CM opens, lays foundation of ₹411-crore Braj projects

AGRA: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of various schemes of about ₹411 crore for the Braj region and assured an improvement in the water quality of the Yamuna there by 2022.

Promising a new look for the region, he expressed his intent to develop Mathura and Vrindavan on the pattern of Ayodhya, which he said was coming up as the biggest cultural and spiritual city on the global map.

The chief minister was in Vrindavan on Sunday and met various seers during his fivehour visit to the pilgrim town.

After reaching Vrindavan, he went to the Bankey Behari temple and offered prayers there. Next, he went to the Kripa Dham ashram of Swami Gyananad and discussed the Yamuna issue with the saint and other religious heads present there. Stating that his government was aware of pollution in the Yamuna, he assured action.

“We all have to work unitedly to maintain the purity of the Yamuna. Efforts made to maintain the purity of the Ganga in Kanpur have given results and now sewage is not flowing into the Ganga,” said the chief minister who was critical of the Delhi government over pollution in the Yamuna.

The Yamuna issue came up at the meeting organised for the Vaishnav Kumbh Baithak, a religious event.

Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari reportedly met Union home minister Amit Shah in an unscheduled visit to New Delhi on Sunday. He met Shah in the morning in a closeddoor meeting before leaving for Mumbai in the afternoon. The details of the meeting are still under wraps. The move is significant in the backdrop of the controversy over denial of the state’s aeroplane to travel to Dehradun by the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray.