UP to name roads after Kanshi Ram, Lohia

LUCKNOW :Deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Monday said the state’s PWD would make roads in every district in the name of BSP founder Kanshi Ram and socialist ideologues Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narain.

Maurya, who holds the charge of PWD, said instructions have been issued to engineer in-chief of the PWD, who had directed all executive engineers to identify roads, big bridges, and flyovers in their respective districts and prepare a list.

Apart from roads, he said, memorials would also being built in the names of important people of backward and other sections of the society. This includes a huge memorial in the name of Maharaj Suheldev Rajbhar in Bahraich.

He said a district-wise list of these roads was being compiled by engineer in-chief VK Singh. “Very soon signages with the

APART FROM ROADS MEMORIALS WOULD ALSO BEING BUILT IN THE NAMES OF IMPORTANT PEOPLE OF BACKWARD AND OTHER SECTIONS OF THE SOCIETY

names of these leaders, along with a slogan or message would come up on the roads shortlisted for the purpose,” he said.

On August 13, Maurya was petitioned by an organization, San Savita Samaj, which demanded that a memorial be dedicated in the name of former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur. Maurya agreed and said one road in each district of the state would be named after Thakur.

“Till now governments only named educational institutions, hospitals and development and welfare schemes. These, too, were done in a very selective manner. But we have now decided to honour leaders of the OBCs, who constitute around 54 per cent of the country’s population,” he said.

He said the state government has proposed upgrading of 109 state highways as national highways. The centre, he said, had conceded UP government’s request to upgrade 73 highways of 6,260 km length as national highways. Besides, the government would link prominent religious spots like Ayodhya, Prayag, Chitrakoot and Naimisaranya with four-lane roads to boost religious tourism.