100 days of Yogi govt in UP: No schemes, just name-changes. It doesn't look good
Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi, who took the oath on 19 March this year, is all set to mark 100 days in office on 25 June. To mark the occasion, the Uttar Pradesh government plans to release a white paper. It is counting 'end of caste and dynasty politics' and 'welfare of farmers' among its 'achievements'.
But what achievements, you may ask?
“Well, law-and-order is a problem area and so is the delay in renewing mining leases,” answered a Bharatiya Janata Party spokesman speaking about things yet to be accomplished.
Addressing lawlessness under the “Samajwadi Party’s goonda raj” was given top priority by the Bharatiya Janata Party during the run-up to the Assembly elections. But what followed was a different story.
Soon after the government formation, the issue began to run out of control. Although the police force has been shuffled twice, thrice over to remove untrustworthy officials from the top to the police station level – the law-and-order situation refuses to show any improvement.
To up police administration by a notch, the government posted additional directors-general (ADGs) in zones, which comprise of major districts. Earlier, these zones were headed by inspectors-general of police (IGs).
With ADGs replacing the IGs, the latter, in turn, were made responsible for ranges which were earlier under the charge of deputy inspectors-general (DIGs).
Following these changes, ADG (crime) Abhay Kumar Prasad was posted as the ADG of Lucknow zone in place of A Satish Ganesh who was transferred as IG PAC.
Similarly, the Lucknow range DIG Praveen Kumar was replaced by an IG.
But did the change mark the end of the jungle raj?
Hardly, one would say.
Crime sheet
The beefed up Lucknow zone includes Sitapur where a businessman, his wife and son were shot dead outside their house.
A triple murder followed the double murder of jewellers in Mathura.
Then there was the rape of a woman near Jewar on the Yamuna Expressway.
And one can't forget the caste violence in Saharanpur that broke out between the Thakurs and the Dalits.
With the list growing by the day, the soon to turn 100-day old government is fumbling for answers.
The government, of course, sees the hand of pro-Samajwadi Party elements in the crimes just as it saw the Bahujan Samaj Party playing a role in the Saharanpur clashes.
The fact that a group of Lucknow University students with black flags could stop Adityanath's convoy and climb atop the bonnet of his car shows how ineffective the police in the state actually is. And this, when the CM enjoys Z-plus security and SPG cover.
No power
Another promise, of a 24-hour power supply, is still waiting to be fulfilled. The government is now saying that it is committed to providing power to everyone, unlike the previous governments which only supplied power to a select few districts.
While the government claims that there is 22-23 hour power supply daily, intermittent power cuts every day in cities, including the state capital, puts a question mark on the claim.
The government had also announced that they would make all the roads pothole-free by 15 June. Two days back, PWD minister KP Maurya announced that only 70,000 kilometres out of 1.21 lakh km roads have been repaired so far.
The situation of the roads in Varanasi and Kanpur, besides several rural roads, are especially bad.
Former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav called the concept of the pothole-free roads a pipe-dream.
And there is more...
Crime, electricity and roads are not the only challenges facing the new government. Farmers’ loan waiver, with no financial help forthcoming from the Centre, is also an area of concern as the burden on the state exchequer will be to the tune of Rs 36, 369 crore.
Swachhata Abhiyan, the cleanliness drive, which is Prime Minister Modi’s dream project, was launched in the state with fanfare with the chief minister himself wielding the broom. After series of photo ops, the ground reality is no better than what it was before the clean-up began.
Then there were none
An important aspect of Adityanath’s 100 days in office has been that there is has not a single scheme to its credit.
The Lucknow Metro, Gomti river-front, Poorvanchal Expressway, Lucknow-Agra Expressway, Police Helpline Dial 100, Health Helpline 102 and 108 – were all started by Akhilesh Yadav.
Of these, only the Poorvanchal Expressway, for which the land acquisition process has to be started, has to be implemented by this government.
What has marked 100 days of this government is the fear of majoritarianism. Adityanath has made repeated assertions that he is against any symbol of Mughal invasion.
After the decision to rename Mughalsarai railway station on the RSS ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya people are now worried that the landscape of Oudh, which is dotted with Mughal heritage buildings, might soon lose its character.
Edited by Jhinuk Sen
First published: 24 June 2017, 14:10 IST