Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mr Akhilesh Yadav while replying to the discussion on Governor’s address in Vidhan Sabha said today that the state government would work towards strengthening the democratic process. Accusing the previous government of ending democratic values and ethics in the state, the chief minister said, many ministers of that government and legislators faced graft probes and are still being investigated in various cases.
Mr Yadav said that the previous government cheated the people of the state in the name of law and order and said that grave injustice had been done to the people. Assuring the House that his government would not compromise on law & order and said, action had been initiated in incidents that have taken place in the last two months. In future too, he added, if incidents take place, the government would take tough action. The chief minister also said that as his governments grows in tenure, the law and order situation would further improve, graft will be brought under control, power shortage would be met and problems of the farmers would be looked into on top priority. As all this will happen, Mr Akhilesh Yadav said, the state would prosper and all-round development would take place.
Before this, the chief minister underlined the rampant corruption of his predecessor government and said that state had become a laboratory of corruption and the state coffers were plundered in the several thousand crore NHRM scam.
Mr Yadav further said that the people were looted, victimized and the funds that should have been spent in the development of the rural areas was spent on raising statues and building monuments, so much so that a living woman got her own statues installed in many parts of the state. Questioning this, the chief minister said how could a living being herself declare that she was a great personality. He recalled how serious sections of the IPC were slapped on various leaders from opposition parties, his own party members were brutally lathi charged, beaten up and stuffed into prisons and the house of the state Congress president gutted by angry ruling party workers.
He lamented the fact that a state which was the centre point of all political activity in the country and was harbinger of change was isolated in the last five years due to the misadventures of the BSP government. Mr Yadav further said that his party had been voted to power with great hope by the people and added that his government would work for the betterment of the farmers in the state and towards improving the power situation in the country. Shedding light on the power scenario in the state, the UP chief minister said the previous government had not taken any serious initiative to improve the grim power scene and it was because of the faulty policies of the previous government that his government has inherited a loss of over Rs 25,000 crore. Out of which Rs 18,000 crore are bank loans and the rest losses came out of its bid to make new power plants.
The previous government, Mr Yadav told the House, purchased electricity @ Rs 13 per unit and indulged itself in another graft case. He further highlighted how the last government had signed 9 MoU’s during its tenure and even as their validity comes to a close on June 10, 2012, not a single MoU has gone through. Other than this, the chief minister rued that no arrangements were made for coal linkages for any of these plants. He then assured the House that his government will not only establish new power houses in the state but would also seek the support and cooperation of the union government in this regard. Not only this, he said, the government would also strive to work for developing electricity from solar energy as well as garbage and informed that the irrigation department would also be involved in power generation. Mr Yadav said the Obra and Panki power plants were very old and their production capacity was very less and hence efforts would be set rolling to increase production here. Talking about the problems of power shortages in Kanpur, the chief minister assured that the city which gives revenue of Rs 6,000 crore to the state would be taken care of and its power woes addressed on priority. To improve the situation on the power front, the chief minister informed, his government was working on providing separate feeders for industry, domestic and rural electricity supply. Other than this, the state government would work for further progress in the Alaknanda project and a decision would be taken on the coal field allocated to the state in Odisha, something which the previous government did not do. The CM also charged the previous government of ignoring the farmers and their interests. The present government he added was committed to giving the best support price to farmers and said that due to lethargy in decision making by the previous government, wheat procurement was facing some problems. 4 Speaking of shortage of sacks to store food grains, the CM said the union government should have been told about this 5-6 months back but they were sought only in the month of January-February when the government knew that it was on its way out.
Mr Yadav called farmers a priority and added that timely availability of fertilizers was being arranged for by his government. The chief minister also said that contrasted with urban youth, the rural youngsters lagged behind in the Information Technology (IT) and to motivate them and encourage them into taking the benefits of advances in IT sector, his government had decided to provide free tablets & laptops and ruled out apprehensions that they would not be able to handle the computers. If they can handle the mobile phones so well, why not the tablets and laptops, he mused.
He said software in the tablets and lap tops would ensure that they can work in English, Hindi and Urdu as well. Mr Yadav said under the Public-Private-Partnership projects lot of corruption had taken place in the construction and laying of roads and pointed out how hugely benefitting the project runners was also a form of corruption. He assured the august House that his government would ensure full justice to the farmers and said suggestions of all legislators would be taken from time to time and also incorporated if