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Express News Service
LUCKNOW: “Farq saaf hai (the difference is clear)” was the catchline given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while seeking to differentiate the state of affairs between the present dispensation and previous regimes thus setting the tone for the BJP’s poll narrative for the 2022 electoral battle in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday.
Inaugurating the Saryu Canal National Project worth Rs 9802 crore in the eastern UP district of Balrampur, the PM reiterated the impact of a ‘double engine government’ in speedy implementation of welfare projects in the state unlike during the earlier regimes.
Substantiating his claim that there was a marked difference in the style of functioning of the Yogi Adityanath government and previous regimes, the PM said: “The previous governments patronized mafia and encroached upon the properties, whereas, the Yogi government is busy ridding the state of mafias and bulldozing their illegal assets. Similarly, the previous regime empowered the bahubalis (strongmen), whereas the Yogi government empowered the downtrodden, deprived and tribals. So the people of UP say ‘Farq saaf hai’.”
The PM continued to draw parallels by claiming that the difference was clearly visible as in the previous regime, women and girls used to think twice before stepping out fearing hooligans, whereas in Yogi rule, the criminals was seeking to remain in jail and think twice before committing crimes. He also mentioned how the cane dues had piled up to the tune of thousands of crores in the previous regime, whereas the present state government had cleared the most.
Taking on Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav without mentioning his name, the Prime Minister wondered why ‘someone’ had not come forward with the claim of credit over the Saryu Canal National Irrigation Project. “Some people keep on claiming that they had cut the ribbon of all the welfare schemes in the state. They may claim that they had cut the ribbon for Saryu Canal Project also or may be in their childhood they could have cut the ribbon for it,” quipped the PM adding on a serious note: “For previous government, the priority was only to cut ribbon whereas we believe in completing the projects in time.”
Referring to the irrigation project which was conceived in 1972, Prime Minister Modi said that what previous governments could not do in five decades, the double engine government of Uttar Pradesh had accomplished it in less than five years reflecting that when “Sonch Imaandar, Kaam Damdaar” (with honest thought and approach, the end result is always impressive).
The PM also attacked the previous governments for delaying the project which ended up in a 100-fold escalation in its cost. “When the 318-km long canal project was conceived five decades ago, its estimated cost was less than Rs 100 crore while on completion, the total cost of the project has escalated to around Rs 10,000 crore. We have been paying for the laxity of previous governments. Had the project been completed earlier, its cost would have been far less with less burden on people, while farmers would have started drawing benefiting from it already, filling the state coffers,” maintained the PM.
Calling upon the people to punish those who delayed the Saryu Canal project, the PM said, “Whose money was this? Yours. Isn’t it? Your money should have been better utilised. Those who misused it, would you not punish them?”
The Saryu Canal Irrigation project would mitigate the water blues of over 40 lakh farmers of 6200 villages across nine districts including Bahraich, Shravasti, Gonda, Maharajganj, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Balrampur and Gorakhpur. Around 16.49 hectares of land will be irrigated through the canal project which has come up interlinking five rivers including Ghagra, Rapti, Saryu, Banganga and Rohini.
The PM claimed that after taking over in 2014, his government approved 99 national irrigation projects worth Rs 17000 crore of which four are in UP. “My cabinet has also cleared the ₹45,000 crore Ken-Betwa project that will end the water crisis in the Bundelkhand region,” he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the government has completed 17 of the 18 agricultural projects that had been pending for decades in the last four-and-a-half years, while work is underway on the 18th, theMadhya Ganga Project.
CM Yogi said that the government has ensured irrigation facility for a total of 22 lakh hectares of land during the period. He said, “I was born in the year 1972, when the project was approved. However, the project could not be completed even after several decades. It’s after the honourable Prime Minister took the initiative to complete 100 such projects, which would have a far-reaching impact on lives of common people, that work was started on war-footing on these projects.”
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