Pan-stained walls make CM see red

lucknow — Livid at the sight of betel juice stained walls of the building that houses his office, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday banned the use of pan and tobacco products in schools, colleges, hospitals and other government buldings.

On his first visit to the secretariat annexe building here, the chief minister gave a piece of his mind to officials there asking them to stop chewing pan and pan masala when on duty.

He was visibly put off when he saw betel-juice stained walls of the building which is known as Lal Bahadur Shastri Bhawan and houses the chief minister’s office and his secretariat, offices of the state chief secretary, principal secretary (home) and other senior IAS officers.

A few hours later, the chief minister directed officials to enforce a ban on the use of pan and tobacco in schools, colleges, government hospitals and hospitals. He also prohibited the use of plastic in government offices.

A stickler for cleanliness, the saffron-robed 44-year-old chief minister had administered a sanitation pledge to officials a day after he took over as the UP CM and asked them to ensure that the pledge is effectively implemented on the lines of Swachh Bharat Mission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The officers were made to repeat after him a ‘swachhata’ pledge — “I will not litter, nor allow anybody to do it. I will devote 100 hours every year, to make the pledge of cleanliness come true and I will propagate the message of Swachch Bharat Mission in every nook and corner of the country”. — PTI