Fund crunch, law & order issues weigh down 100 days of Yogi rule
CHALLENGES GALORE UP govt is under attack from rivals for ‘failing’ to meet poll promises
LUCKNOW: As Yogi Adityanath completes 100 days in office this week as Uttar Pradesh chief minister, formidable challenges, including funds for the farm loan- waiver, and law and order stare him at his face, with the opposition claiming the misses have outnumbered the hits.
The loan-waiver, a major prepoll promise of the BJP, is making finance department burn the midnight oil in trying all permutations and combination to offload the sudden fiscal burden of nearly ₹36,369 crore.
This coupled with ₹34,000 crore for the implementation of the seventh pay commission recommendations, has put an additional burden of a whopping over ₹70,000 crore on the state’s coffers.
The government faces other major challenges including of arranging funds for mega projects like the Purvanchal e-way.
The government itself has admitted it could manage to make just 63 per cent of the state roads pothole-free by the June-15 deadline set by the chief minister.
Distribution of free laptops among students -- mentioned in the BJP’s ‘sankalp patra’ (election manifesto) -- is another challenge confronting the Yogi government, which was inaugurated on March 19.
No date has been announced for the scheme to be launched.
As the state government prepares to come out with a 100- day achievement document later this week, state Congress spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi ridiculed the ruling party for making promises that it could not meet.
“Two months of the Adityanath government have not sent out any strong message on any of the issues which were part of BJP’s campaign -- improved lawand-order situation and better administration,” he said.
Law-and-order and governance, however, remain the primary challenges for Adityanath. It will be a herculean task to change the attitude of the bureaucracy down to the lowest level and make the government machinery responsive to the needs of the public, political observers feel.
Adityanath will need to begin the process of change and show tangible results soon in order to satisfy those who voted the BJP.
“Rowdyism is dying and crime graph falling. People’s confidence in the government has been restored,” the state BJP had said in its political resolution at its recent working committee meeting here.
But, on the ground, certain recent incidents like caste clashes in Saharanpur and communal violence in Bulandshahr, Sambhal and Gonda gave the law-enforcing agencies sleepless night.
In Bulandshahr, members of the Adityanath-founded Hindu Yuva Vahini were alleged to be behind the killing of an aged Muslim man after a “love-jihadstyle” elopement. The attack on Saharanpur SSP’s residence allegedly by BJP activists “led” by local MP Raghav Lakhanpal, hogged the headlines.