CM: Scrapping holidays will help govt earn extra ₹50-60K crore
GORAKHPUR: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said his government’s decision to scrap holidays, which were observed on anniversaries of eminent personalities in Uttar Pradesh, will help the government earn an additional revenue of ₹ 50,000 -60,000 crore as public offices will work for 15 more days every year.
Last week, the UP cabinet scrapped 15 such holidays.
The funds thus generated will be used in the development of the state and help create new employment opportunities for the youth, he said, adding that the decision to scrap holidays was welcomed equally by students and their parents
“We have also asked the administration to issue a government order directing school and college authorities to initiate a tradition of holding 15-minute lectures on the birth or death anniversaries of great personalities, saints and others,” he said.
Yogi was speaking at a meeting of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) workers and its affiliated organisations, in Gorakhpur where the RSS felicitated him.
He also said it was the country’s misfortune that singing the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ was given a communal tag.
“How bizarre it is that the national song, which gave a new lease of life to the freedom struggle and was sung by freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives, was considered a synonym of communalism. What a fateful day it was when singing the national song was made optional rather than compulsory,” the chief minister said.
The CM, who was on the second and final day of his visit to Gorakhpur, credited the RSS’s Vidya Bharti for keeping alive the tradition of singing Vande Mataram.
The chief minister said the national song would have vanished if it were not sung at Sangh schools. He exhorted the people to contribute to saving the cows and making the holy river Ganga clean and clear.
The chief minister said: “Only chanting Gau Mata Ki Jai will not help save the cows until you contribute honestly at your personal level to save them.”
“Similarly, chanting Ganga Mata Ki Jai will not help the holy river to flow clean until you start considering ponds, drainage and other water bodies in your surroundings as part of the Ganga and keep them clean and clear,” he added.
The CM claimed: “Both cow smuggling and slaughter have been completely checked in just one month of the BJP government in office.”
“Despite a three-year-old order of the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal (NGT), no ban was put on illegal slaughterhouses as there was a lack of willpower (in the previous government) to do that, but when we said that such slaughterhouses should not be allowed to run, they were shut down immediately ,” Yogi said.
“It happened after we carried out checking on roads , border areas and issued stern directives that cow slaughter and smuggling should be checked and if it continues, accountability will be fixed, “he said.
Adityanath said encephalitis , an annual killer in east UP, could be controlled easily if people started keeping their surroundings clean and used pure drinking water. He urged them to become a part of cleanliness campaign launched by the PM.
He said what he had learnt from RSS shakhas needed to be taken to the society now to help in its improvement.