GORAKHPUR: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced that a cabinet committee will be set up to prepare a roadmap for the development of Purvanchal. The committee will prepare its report within three months, the CM said on Saturday and directed the planning department and Purvanchal Development Board to ensure participation of all departments for implementing the development plan.
Speaking at the concluding session of a three-day seminar on ‘Sustainable Development of Purvanchal: Issues, Strategy and Future Course of Action’, jointly organised by the state planning department and DDU University, Gorakhpur, the chief minister said, the committee will study all the recommendations made at the seminar after intensive discussions among experts over three days and look for local solutions to problems.
“The hurdles in Purvanchal’s development identified during the three-day seminar will have to have local resolutions. Local organisations, particularly academic institutions, will have an important role to play in this,” the CM said. Purvanchal is blessed with fertile land and pure water, but was left behind in absence of any efforts by past regimes, the CM said.
“You know you are doing something right when the Opposition speaks against you. Purvanchal remained poor and backward due to narrow thinking of some people. We will get rid of those who are against development,” he said.
CM Yogi Adityanath said, from 1977 to 2017, there were more than 50,000 deaths due to encephalitis in 38 districts in the state.
“In 2017, our government did not allocate any additional budget for control, but instead made the health department the nodal authority under which other departments worked. In just three years, we managed to control spread of the disease,” he said.
The CM said, universities and other educational institutes should not restrict themselves to handing out degrees, and students have to come forward and participate in governance. Government policies should be made a part of curriculum, he said, adding students should also be taught about practical work done by the government.
Emphasising on local resolutions, the CM cited Deepotsav in Ayodhya, which was first celebrated in 2017 and 51,000 diyas were collected from across the state. “We were dependent on China for diyas and idols even though we have everything available here. After Covid outbreak, our dependence on China ended and Mati Kala Board was encouraged to ensure supply. We managed to light 7 lakh diyas this time,” the CM said.
Union minister for AYUSH, Shripad Yesso Naik, special guest at the event, said his ministry would extend more health facilities in rural areas. University Grants Commission chairperson D P Singh said, education and training were both crucial for development.