‘UP can be trillion- dollar economy in 5 yrs’
target should be nothing less than ~2 lakh crore. I also decided to participate in one roadshow and it was decided that the venue would be Mumbai.
At the roadshow, I found that the country’s biggest industrialists and investors were there and we got proposals worth ~2.5 lakh crore in a day. With the Mumbai roadshow as a model, the department held three more shows and I asked Prime Minister Modi to inaugurate the summit. The PM smiled and questioned me by saying that the Uttar Pradesh government had not even completed one year and said that more time should be taken to host a summit. He laughed at the idea and said that you have to work very hard. I said, I will work hard. We did our first summit on February 21-22, 2018 and got ~5 lakh crore worth of proposals. It is the first time that proposals worth ~2 lakh crore have already touched ground and being implemented with ~65,000 crore proposals already in pipeline and possibly implemented in next three to four months. Did you face any hurdles in getting proposals, considering the perpetual high political climate in the state?
When we came to power, Korean multinational Samsung was winding up in the state. I was on the seat for only 15 days when I got this information through a small newspaper clipping. I questioned the bureaucrats, asked them why Samsung was exiting UP. They told me that Samsung had a ~3,000 crore proposal to set up a unit in Noida but now they have decided to shift to other states perhaps due to better facilities and incentives. I got angry and asked them why were they taking this news lightly. I told them that for me it was a big event as someone who wanted to invest in UP even during the previous regime is now leaving the state, and we’re doing nothing about it.
When I told them that I wanted to meet Samsung representatives, the bureaucrats were taken aback as they could not fathom why should the UP CM meet a private company head. The Samsung chairman came, and after the meeting, I directed my team that all problems faced by the company should be resolved in next 15 days.
I also directed that an MOU be signed with the company and due to our efforts the foundation stone of the project was laid in June 2017. The problems did not end there, as vested interests using muscle power wanted the huge work contract for setting up the plant. I told them that all the dadas (enforcers) must be set right in 24 hours or else I will take action against those accountable. The same Samsung has already invested ~5,000 crore in UP and is investing another ~3,000 crore in the Noida unit. Today, Samsung has the biggest mobile manufacturing facility in the world in Noida to manufacture mobile phones.
Economic growth is linked with infrastructure with emphasis on availability of power. There are reports about shortage of power in western UP.
We have no shortage of power. We are going to double the power production as compared to 2016, just as our consumption has also doubled during the same period. Earlier, the governments in Lucknow would select few districts for adequate power distribution while leaving the entire state in dark. In April 2017, we decided that district headquarters will have 24-hour power, tehsil headquarters were given 20 hours, and rural area was allocated 18 hours of power. Our scheme went off well for two years but now disturbance may be felt as feeders are being
YOGI ADITYANATH, Uttar Pradesh chief minister changed in many districts of the state. We are demarcating power distribution on the basis of specific use: like agriculture, domestic consumption, and city streetlights. We have been successful in reducing the transmission distributions losses from 36% to 24% through underground cabling. In the past 30 months, 167,000 spots have been electrified with 11 million people given electricity connection either free or basic charges. The disturbance could be on account of both expansion and strengthening of the grid taking place at the same time in UP. The state has never been provided electricity at this rate in the past 20 years and we are committed to the same in future.
PM Modi talks about fighting corruption within and outside the government. How much have you succeeded in tackling it in the state?
Anti-corruption efforts depend on the leadership. If the leader is clean, this will impact the entire bureaucracy. But if the leader is corrupt, then how can you expect subordinates to be honest? In my government, if the corrupt do not mend themselves, then they will be taken to task as per law. I have retired or dismissed 600 officials in the past 30 months on this count. I can only give one or two chances for officials to mend their behaviour or else they have to face law.
The key demand of any investor in any state is proper law-and-order. In these times when everyone takes videos of any incident to raise an issue, how much have you been able to control the situation in the state?
Law-and-order in UP is the best in the past decades as there has been not a single communal riot or ransom case in the past 30 months. All festivals were celebrated with fervour without any incident. We have done three big events this year with the Prayagraj Kumbh taking the top spot as more than 240 million pilgrims attended the event. Using artificial intelligence at the command and control centre, we monitored each and every activity at the Kumbh. In 1954, four million people attended the Kumbh on Mauni Amavasya day and over 1,000 people lost their lives in the melee when PM Jawaharlal Nehru came to attend the event. The event was so tragic that the police superintendent quit his job and went into sanyas. This time, on the same day, over 50 million people came but not a thing went out of place. This is called management.
Second, we conducted the 15 Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas in Kashi with more than 7,500 representatives belonging to 76 countries attending the show. Third was the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on 163,000 booths in 80 seats that went to polls in seven phases. During the same time, West Bengal went to polls for 42 seats in 80,000 booths. In UP it was all peaceful, but 53 people lost their lives in West Bengal on account of poll violence with arson and mayhem overtaking the state.
What is your assessment of the current political environment of the state in the context of three main opposition parties ?
The results of 2019 Lok Sabha elections with the BJP winning 62 seats have shown the mirror to the decimated Opposition. The results have also predicted the future. The Opposition knows where it stands now.
Do either of the three opposition parties have the electoral might or support to take on the BJP in future ?
If these parties had the strength, then they should have proved in the Lok Sabha elections.
What about the forthcoming Assembly elections in 13 constituencies, largely in western UP? BJP will win all of the 13 Assembly seats.
Complacency leads to adverse results. Remember Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypolls?
Forget Gorakhpur. It was an event that happened. Kaath ki handiyan baar baar nahin chadti (flukes happen only once). That time has gone. Even if all the three parties join hands, nothing will happen.the people of UP have already answered these parties and this will continue in future.
Forget Gorakhpur. It was an event that happened. Flukes happen only once...even if all three parties join hands, nothing will happen. People of UP have answered these parties and this will continue in future.