“Brand Uttar Pradesh for a Vibrant India”

“During the regime of the previous government, government offices and police stations were functioning under criminals. Police moral was apparently minimal. After the arrival of BJP government in the state, the system of the previous government supporting criminals has been evidently eliminated. To infuse a sense of security into people, Police has been directed by the government to take strict actions against criminals, irrelevance of caste, creed or religion. SP-level Police officers have been asked to conduct patrol every day.  Numerous dreaded criminals have been killed in Police encounters and several others sent to jail. Owing to this, atmosphere of the state is fearless,” said Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, in an interview to Uday India Group Editor Deepak Kumar Rath. Excerpts:

Bringing Uttar Pradesh on development path is a tough test. What are the initiatives you taking to confront these challenges?  

This is true that there was huge distress in Uttar Pradesh when Bharatiy Janata Party came to power. The state was afflicted with dynasty, casteism, lawlessness and corruption and this was the reason that businessmen and investors were running away from the state. No investor from outside was interested in investing in the state. Even local people were disappointed. However, when we formed our government in the state, we commenced working on a particular direction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and now it is his guidance that the atmosphere of the state has been totally changed.

Deteriorating law and order in Uttar Pradesh is a big obstacle in the way of development. What decisions have you taken so far to arrest this scenario in the state?

Look, in the previous government, government offices and police stations were functioning under criminals. Police moral was apparently minimal. After the arrival of BJP government in the state, the system of the previous government supporting criminals has been evidently eliminated. To infuse a sense of security into people, Police has been directed by the government to take strict actions against criminals, irrelevance of caste, creed or religion. SP-level Police officers have been asked to conduct patrol every day.  Numerous dreaded criminals have been killed in Police encounters and several others sent to jail. Owing to this, atmosphere of the state is fearless.

As your government is going to organise Investors Summit in the state, how do you propose to attract investors to come to Uttar Pradesh?

There are two factors, which are always important for any investor—first, law & order and second is corruption— in both scenarios, the situation of the state has witnessed improvement. Now you would not see any gang of criminal, who intimidates any businessman. You would not get to hear any news of forcible recovery or kidnapping. To root out red-tapism, we have initiated single window system. Those who are investing more than Rs 100 crore will be monitored and taken care of by secretary-level officers. Investors, who will be investing in Purvanchal and Bundelkhand regions, will be given special concession. In the new industry policy of the Uttar Pradesh government, a lot of other issues have been addressed.

Even now farmers are unable to get the required electricity which requires for their agricultural uses. How will you provide electricity to business industries?

No, this condition was prevalent before we came to power. When Bharatiya Janata Party assumed power, without any discrimination, we decided to provide 24/7 electricity to all district headquarters and 18 hours of electricity to all tehshils. Today, farmers are getting enough electricity according to their necessity, due to which their farm expenditure has come down. Earlier, in absence of electricity, farmers were forced to use diesel pump sets for irrigation, which increased their farm expenditure.  Now we have enough electricity to provide to both farmers and businessmen.

Tourism plays a vital role in development of UP. How do you plan to promote tourism industry in the state?

There is a huge scope for tourism in the country. There are some areas that are already developed and famous. Along with them, our government is working on promoting other centres. We are working on special plans for the development of cultural tourism, so that foreign tourists are able to visit there. Celebrating Dipawali in Ayodhya and organising special functions in Chitrakut and Naimisharanya   were part of this scheme. We are assuring full protection to those tourists coming to the state.

A huge investors’ summit is being organised by your government in Lucknow. Could you tell us which industries are you inviting to the  summit?

Recently, road shows were organised in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Ahmadabad. All the big business tycoons expressed their desire to invest in Uttar Pradesh by seeing the current law & order situation in the state. Their investment offers are coming incessantly to us.  Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given his consent to participate in the summit. A huge investment will be helpful in generating employment in the state.