UP gave most jobs during pandemic: Yogi
Apparently raising the poll pitch at Bangarmau in Unnao, chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said the Uttar Pradesh government had given the maximum number of jobs to people during the Covid-19 pandemic. The chief minister inaugurated 146 projects and laid foundation for another 44 projects worth Rs 93 crore in Unnao.
By-elections are likely to be held to the Bangarmau assembly seat and seven others in the state. Kuldeep Singh Sengar represented Bangarmau before his conviction in a rape case on December 19, 2019. Sengar, who is serving his life term in Tihar jail, contested the seat in 2017 on a BJP ticket and won. Sengar was disqualified following the life sentence awarded to him in the rape case. The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to regain the seat.
At a public meeting held in a rice mill compound, the chief minister raised doubts about the ‘patriotism’ of the opposition. First, they challenged the scrapping of Article 370 and now the Congress and other parties were misleading the farmers, he said.
The opposition was indulging in mere propaganda on the three farm reform laws.
“Farmers are free to sell their produce anywhere in the country; their income will double,” he said, adding that the Congress and the others, devoid of any issue, were provoking the people.
During the pandemic, his government gave the maximum employment, he said. Apart from transporting migrants home, the government gave four million jobs, he added.
In the last three years, he said the government provided jobs to three lakh people, he added.
“No one can say there has
been discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and religion, such was the transparency,” he said.
He also asserted that China was cowering after the induction of Rafale.
About welfare schemes, he said 4.4 million people were given cooking gas cylinders for free and 8.7 million got different types of pension under PM Garib Kalyan package.
“We are grateful to PM who launched many schemes for the poor amid the pandemic,” he said. He said the focus was on improving the health infrastructure in Uttar Pradresh where 12 medical colleges opened between 1947 and 2017. In the last three years, 29 new medical colleges were being built, he said.
“Our effort is to ensure that medical colleges come up in 16 districts on PPP (public private partnership) model so that people can get better treatment in their district,” he said.
He said the fight against the coronavirus would continue for another six months. Although the number of positive cases was dropping and the recovery rate rising, it was not the time to let one’s guard down, he said.
All precautions like wearing masks and maintaining social distance should continue, he added.
Imambada and the Chhota Imambada.The DM’s order further stated that the organiser will also ensure that the place is thoroughly sanitised prior to and after holding the gathering. Legal action would be initiated under provisions of the Epidemic Act 1897, if protocol was violated, it added.
Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad said, “Imambadas are meant for holding majlis. Hence, it is not required to take permission for holding majlis at the Imambada. Hence, no permission was sought prior (to) holding (the) majlis.”
About the reason for holding the majlis, the cleric said, “The majlis was called in protest against the district administration’s recent statement describing the Imambada as a tourist place. It was to tell the administration that it is not a tourist place alone. In fact, it is first a religious place. We want the administration to take the statement back and to apologise,” said Maulana Kalbe Jawad.
City magistrate Sushil Pratap Singh, who is secretary of HAT, said, “We have issued a letter, stating that Bada Imambada is a religious place.”