Authorities take extra care to clean roads used by CM

Days after chief minister Yogi Adityanath picked up broom to clean Lucknow slums, the authorities have begun taking extra care to clean select roads ahead of his movement in the state capital.

As part of the drive, about 10,000 litres of water was used to wash the roads which the chief minister used to reach his office in Lok Bhawan on Wednesday afternoon.

“Yes, we are using water to clean the roads ahead of chief minister’s visits in the state capital in the past few days. We do not use drinking water for this. It’s recycled water. Each tanker carries about 10,000 litres water and we used one tanker on Wednesday,” said a senior officer.

“There is lot of dust on roads. We have been sprinkling water on roads for the past few days. This does not cost much. A tanker costs Rs 150 only. The fuel costs us more than water,” said a senior officer.

A visit around Lok Bhawan on Wednesday showed dug up roadside and heaps of stones lying there. Questions had been raised about the cleanliness in Uttar Pradesh cities after union urban development ministry cleanliness survey found Gonda as India’s dirtiest and Lucknow on 269th place.

A day after, Yogi led the cleanliness drive in Balu Adda area of the state capital This is, however, not for the first time that the authorities are resorting to washing of roads ahead of any chief minister’s visit in the state capital. All roads on Mayawati’s route were washed when she moved anywhere as the state’s chief minister. Many term it as colossal waste of water and sharp reactions have come from water conservationists and the political parties alike. “Water evokes lot of respect in India. Chief minister also has high respect for water. He should refrain from wasting water in such a manner,” said Rajendra Singh, who is also known as waterman of India.

Samajwadi Party spokesman said the chief minister must check the waste of water. Congress spokesman Satyadev Tripathi also said there were better ways to get the roads cleaned and water should not be wasted in such a manner.

Soon after taking over as the state’s chief minister, Yogi had ordered ban on use of ‘pan masala’ etc. in the state secretariat and asked officers to maintain cleanliness in all government buildings.