BJP’s wish list: Funds for religious tourism, checking rural exodus
LUCKNOW: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh (UP) has sought monetary support from 15th finance panel to aid and develop religious and cultural tourism, for bettering forest cover, protecting plantation and for upkeep of Ayurvedic hospitals among other things.
It has also sought funds to protect migration from villages to cities, to develop smart villages as well as for effective implementation of Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act and funding to establish mini secretariat in villages.
A BJP delegation led by party vice president JPS Rathore met the panel’s chief NK Singh in Lucknow to make a case for financial help to those states which have implemented fiscal discipline effectively.
Rathore, who was assisted by party functionaries YP Singh and Manish Kapoor, also flagged before the panel the issue of poor soil health and the need to improve its productivity through encouraging organic farming and discovering effective methods to better the quality of agricultural produce.
The panel was also briefed about the need to popularise line and dry sowing in Bundelkhand region of the state where repeated droughts have impacted livelihoods and agricultural incomes.
“The state’s forest cover is low. This year 22 crore saplings were planted and the target for next year is 25 crore. However a big challenge for us is saving the saplings and we need adequate financial support for this,” Rathore told the 15th finance panel chief.
The ruling party also informed the panel that the state needed additional funds to better existing infrastructure for upkeep of Ayurvedic hospitals and for promotion of plantation of medicinal plants.
The ruling party also said that to check migration from rural to urban, it was necessary to develop requisite facilities in villages.