Pratapgarh: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath holds first 'chaupal' in Dalit man's house

8u9LUCKNOW: After being tagged as anti-Dalit, the BJP with CM Yogi Aditynath is now reaching out to Dalits in a bid to consolidate its ground among deprived sections of society by holding chaupals (village meetings) and dining with them.

The first such chaupal was held by the CM at Kandhaipur Madhupur village in Pratapgarh district on Monday. Accompanied by minister in charge of the district Swati Singh, the CM reviewed law and order situation and development projects. CM Yogi paid a surprise visit to tehsils, police stations, hospital and slums of Pratapgarh. He also met local public representatives as well.

Under the scheme ‘Gram Swarajya Yojna’, CM Yogi held the chaupal at the house of a Dalit, Dayaram Saroj.

As the CM started interaction with the Madhupur villagers, breaking the standard protocol, he asked all the women, present at the chaupal to enter the safety circle so that they could interact with him easily.

Amidst regular cheering by the villagers who wanted to have a close look of the CM, Yogi Adityanath allowed them to voice their concerns and raise issues fearlessly.

During the programme, the CM provided keys of the houses given to beneficiaries under Pradhanmantri Awas Yojna and also performed 'ann parashan' (ceremony to feed first grain) to five kids of Madhupur village. He also blessed five pregnant women at the venue.

CM Yogi also took account of the delivery of government schemes and inquired if the benefits were reaching the last man on the social rung. As a large number of people replied in negative, the CM called DM, Chief Development Officer and District Panchayati Raj Officer on stage and took them to task.

He issued instructions to the officials to transfer the subsidy for building toilets in the bank accounts of beneficiaries by Tuesday failing which the officials would have to face action. The same instructions were passed in terms of several other government schemes including ration cards, PM Awas Yojna, etc.

The CM has asked the DPRO to announce from stage names of beneficiaries whose houses were approved under PM Awas Yojna. Later, the CM had dinner with a Dalit family of the same village.