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Tag: Yogi Adityanath

  • UP to buy imported coal to manage looming power crisis; would burn a hole in consumers’ pocket  

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The Yogi Adityanath government, which had decided not to buy imported coal for power generation two months back despite consistent pressure from the Centre, has finally agreed to the proposal. 

    The state government has now decided to buy 5.46 lakh metric tonnes of imported coal through Coal India at a cost of Rs 1098 crore.

    As per the senior officials, the state government has decided to provide a subsidy of Rs 1098 crore to UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) in order to save the consumer from bearing the brunt of the hike in the cost of power production with imported coal.

    The decision to this effect was taken by the state cabinet at a meeting held on Tuesday night. The decision may not impact the consumers immediately but in due course, it would burn a hole in the consumers pocket as the cost of the imported coal is Rs 20,000 per tonne as compared to Rs 3000 per tonne of domestic coal.

    As per the sources, the decision has been taken to fulfil the coal requirement of UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (UPRVUNL) and Independent Power Producers (IPP) for August and September. The coal requirement of both UPRVUNL and IPP is 136.52 lakh metric tonne of which 5.46 lakh metric tonne of imported coal is just four per cent.

    It may be mentioned that in order to overcome the power shortage, the Centre had directed the states to buy imported coal for their respective thermal power stations two months back. The sources claim that the Union power ministry had been exerting pressure on the state government to buy imported coal or else its quota of domestic coal would be reduced. 

    ALSO READ | Adani among 11 bidders in race for Coal India’s Rs 3,100 crore import tender 

    In May, the Yogi government had made it clear to the Centre that it would not buy the imported coal as it would put an extra burden on the consumers. However, the state government had to review its decision due to the looming paucity of coal in the coming months.

    Actually, UP thermal power stations are supposed to get their allocated quota of 15-17 racks of domestic coal per day but during the crisis, Coal India cut it down to 11-12 racks per day.According to Additional Chief Secretary, power, Awanish Awasthi, the decision to buy imported coal has been necessitated by the cut in the allocation of domestic coal for UP thermal power stations by Coal India. It could have resulted in acute power crisis in the state in days to come.

    In fact, the cut in domestic coal by 3-4 racks per day by the centre would have impacted the power generation in the state during rainy season of August and September. Now the state government has conveyed its decision to buy imported coal to the centre which will restore the domestic coal quota of UP.

    Meanwhile, the state government, though would bear the added burden by giving the subsidy of Rs 1098 crore to UPPCL for now, it has made it clear to the managing director of the corporation to present a proposal for tariff revision before the UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPREC) due to the rise in coal procurement expenditure.

  • ‘Imbalance in population growth may lead to anarchy’: CM Yogi calls for demographic balance across communities

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Expressing concern over the uncontrolled population rise and its imbalance across various sections of society, UP CM Yogi Adityanath called for population stability and demographic balance across the communities.

    Launching a population stabilization fortnight on the occasion of World Population Day here on Monday, the CM claimed that the vast demographic imbalance would lead to anarchy and chaos in the country.

    “Vast differences in growth rate of population of different religious groups may cause anarchy and chaos in the country. The percentage of population rise of any one class should not exceed the growth rate of natives who are being made conscious of population control and stabilization,” he said while making a veiled reference to the majority.

    Claiming that countries with huge populations came across demographic imbalances, the CM said all religions, faiths, classes and sections of society should equally be integrated with the phenomenon of population stabilization and all should make equal efforts to ward off the challenges of imbalance.

    CM Yogi laid stress on the healthy population saying that the efforts being made towards population control and stabilization for the last five decades had yielded good results and, moreover, huge population was also a resource, but only when the people were healthy and fit.

    The CM referred to the growing population of the country and also UP which was population-wise the biggest state in the country. 

    “India’s population is 135-140 crore and UP, the most populous state will cross the 25 crore mark in no time. The speed of growth is a challenge so it is imperative to make concrete efforts to control or stabilize,” he added.

  • UP cop removed from post, sent to police lines for objectionable comments against Yogi

    By PTI

    BRABANKI: A police official was removed from his post and sent to police lines after a purported video showing him allegedly making objectionable comments against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath came to the fore, officials said on Thursday.

    Station House Officer of Asandra police station Dhyanendra Pratap Singh allegedly the comments against the chief minister while talking to someone in his office room.

    A journalist forwarded a video of this conversation to BJP district president Shashank Kushumesh, who in turn, lodged a complaint against the official with the Superintendent of Police Anurag Vats a couple of days ago.

    Kushumesh alleged that the SHO was trying to create a revolt against the government by making such comments in public.

    Police said an inquiry is underway.

  • RSS has scientific vision, thought process in country’s interest: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has a scientific thought process and it is with this “vision that it is working in the country’s interest”. He also hailed the ‘Vikram Samvat’ calendar claiming it is backed by science.

    Addressing the inaugural function of the fifth national convention of Vigyan Bharti here, Adityanath said, “The Indian ‘drishti’ (vision) believes that a new knowledge is science. The Vigyan Bharti has the patronage of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The vision and thought process of the RSS is scientific and it is with this vision that it is working in the interest of the nation.”

    “KB Hegdewar, the founder of the RSS, was a doctor and a scientist. Former RSS chief MS Golwalkar was also a scientist. Several other RSS chiefs, too, were having a scientific point of view. The Indian ‘drishti’ says nothing can be destroyed but it can change form. This is the scientific point of view,” the chief minister noted.

    Highlighting the use of Vikram Samvat calendar, he said, “We generally refer to the panchaang based on Vikram Samvat for various auspicious and religious programmes. There is a difference between the English calendar and the Vikram Samvat panchaang. There is no scientific point of view in the English dates, while Vikram Samvat is scientifically backed.”

    “There are no ‘muhurat’ in the English dates. The dates of solar eclipse and lunar eclipse change every year in the English calendar. But as per the Indian panchaang, lunar eclipse always occurs on a ‘Purnima’ (full moon day), and a solar eclipse occurs on an ‘Amavasya’ (new moon day). Our sages had said this much earlier,” the chief minister added.

    Adityanath was of the opinion that India lagged behind in the field of knowledge and science because it accepted its knowledge from a religious point of view, but did not try to adopt its practical nature. “Along with observing the happenings around us, we should inculcate the habit of writing and making notes with respect to them. Institutions should encourage data collection. All institutions must examine every work from a scientific point of view so as to get to its core. Every event that happens in nature inspires us to move forward with scientific thinking,” he said.

    Adityanath also highlighted the importance of Ayurveda and said it was “highly advanced” at one point, but later ignored. “During COVID-19, people took refuge in Ayush,” he added.

  • ‘UP government working in autocratic manner’: Azam Khan hits out at CM Yogi

    By PTI

    BAREILLY/AZAMGARH: Alleging Uttar Pradesh government was working in an autocratic manner, senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan on Saturday said he and his family members were even accused of stealing goats.

    While addressing a public meeting organized in Nasirpur on Saturday in support of SP candidate Dharmendra Yadav in the Azamgarh parliamentary constituency by-election, Khan expressed his pain and attacked the BJP government.

    He alleged things were made difficult for him in the jail so as to force him to commit suicide or kneel before the government but he did not do so.

    Azam Khan, was released from Sitapur Jail in May on getting interim bail from the Supreme Court.

    Earlier, before reaching Azamgarh, in a conversation with reporters at Bareilly airport he hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government.

    The Rampur MLA also attacked the BJP-led central government over the ‘Agnipath’ scheme saying it is quite evident as how beneficial it is for the youth who are agitating over it.

    “Dictatorship will be better than the present situation prevailing in the state. The state government is working in an autocratic manner,” the SP leader who recently got released from jail following the Supreme Court order told newspersons at the Bareilly airport here.

    “Allegations like having stolen hen and goat, robbing a liquor shop were levelled against me and my family. In such a situation, you yourself can understand the level of the government’s functioning,” Khan, who had been in Sitapur Jail for 27 months, said.

    On the way to Varanasi, the SP leader said,”the treatment given to my city, my district and my loved ones, I can bet no government in the world would have treated any political leader so badly.

    No government would have fallen so low to lodge cases such as robbing liquor shops and theft of Rs 16 thousand rupees from my college,” he said.

    To a question on the ‘Agnipath’ scheme, he said “All know as to who will benefit from the Agnipath scheme. Everyone knows the whole country is burning.”

    “It is clear from the circumstances what interest of youth the ‘Agnipath’ scheme will serve,” he added.

    The Centre on Saturday announced several incentives including reserving 10 per cent vacancies in its paramilitary and the defence ministry for Agnipath retirees and said it will look into any grievance about the new military recruitment scheme “with an open mind”, even as violent protests raged on in many states and opposition parties stepped up pressure for a rollback.

    Unveiling the scheme on Tuesday, the government said youths between the ages of 17-and-a-half and 21 years would be inducted for a four-year tenure while 25 per cent of the recruits will be retained for regular service.

    The upper age limit was raised to 23 years on Thursday.

    The new scheme for the recruitment of soldiers in the Army, Navy and Air Force was projected by the government as a major overhaul of the decades-old selection process to enhance the youthful profile of the three services.

  • CM Yogi asks his ministers to toe party line in public, warns against making provocative statements

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has sent out a word of caution to his ministers asking them to avoid making any provocative statements on any issue including the controversial statement of ex-BJP leader Nupur Sharma deviating from the party line.

    The missive from the CM came while he was presiding over a meeting of his council of ministers late on Tuesday night to discuss the party’s strategy for upcoming bypolls.

    As per a minister, who was present in the meeting, CM Yogi asked the cabinet colleagues to toe the party line while making speeches and giving public statements, especially, when the bypoll to two Lok Sabha seats of Rampur and Azamgarh are inching closer.

    Moreover, the CM deployed two of his senior cabinet colleagues — State finance minister Suresh Khanna and agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi — as in-charges of a by-election in Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats respectively.

    As a large number of ministers would also camp in the two Lok Sabha constituencies for campaigning in the coming days, they would be exempted from the divisional/district tours during the period.

    Samajwadi Party leader Mohammad Azam Khan and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had vacated the two seats following their election to the state assembly.

    The by-election to the two seats is scheduled for June 23. The counting of votes will be on June 26.

    In an obvious reference to BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s controversial statement over Prophet Mohammad following which she was suspended from the party and many cities across the state witnessed violent protests, the CM said the ministers should not join the controversy or make any provocative statement that may vitiate the atmosphere of the state.

    He said the BJP had made its point clear (by taking action against the party’s spokesperson) and so there was no point in giving any statement. 

    “Those in government offices should uphold dignity and decorum of their offices,” said Yogi.

    The CM’s missive assumes significance as the row has not only drawn international attention but has also come at a time when the BJP is gearing up its cadre for the by-election to the two Lok Sabha seats in the state.

  • Kanpur violence: Mayawati asks UP government to take action by ‘rising above religion, caste’ 

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati Saturday attacked the state government over the violence and stone-pelting in Kanpur, asking the BJP dispensation to take action against the culprits “by rising above religion, caste and party politics”.

    Her statement came after violence broke out in Kanpur on Friday, a day when President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attended a function at the president’s ancestral village in Kanpur Dehat.

    READ MORE: Yogi directs strict action as clashes erupt in Kanpur

    Bombs were hurled and gunshots fired during the violence as members of a group attempted to shut shops over alleged insulting remarks made by BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma during a television debate recently, a senior police official said.

    In a tweet Saturday, Mayawati said, “Riots and violence that erupted in Kanpur during the visit of the president and the prime minister to Uttar Pradesh is very sad, unfortunate and worrying and also a sign of the failure of the police intelligence.

    ALSO READ | 18 arrested in Kanpur stone pelting incident: Police

    “The government has to understand that in the absence of law and order, how investment and development are possible in the state?” she said.

    She said the government should take strict legal action against the culprits “by rising above religion, caste and party politics and conduct an independent and impartial high-level inquiry”.

    She also appealed to people to avoid provocative speeches and maintain law and order, and peace.

    According to senior police officials, the situation in Kanpur is under control on Saturday morning, but heavy police force has been deployed in the violence-hit areas.

    Police have initiated investigation and arrested at least 18 people.

  • 2024 LS election: Yogi sets target of winning 75 seats in Uttar Pradesh

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  Exhorting the BJP cadre to be battle-ready for the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday set a target of winning 75 of the 80 seats in the state. 

    Addressing the saffron party’s first day-long state executive after the Assembly polls, Adityanath said that the “historic mandate” earned by the party in the Assembly election was a clear indication of people’s changed perception about the parties and that the electorate valued transparency in administration and clean governance.

    In 2019, the BJP had won 62 Lok Sabha seats in UP while its ally Apna Dal (S) had registered victory on two seats despite a grand alliance of SP and BSP mounting a formidable challenge. “With people’s overwhelming support and our diligence, we got better results in the Assembly polls. In 2024, under the leadership of PM Modi, we have to march ahead with the target of winning 75 seats in Uttar Pradesh,” the CM said.

    Claiming that UP has become “free from communal conflagrations”,  Adityanath said all recent festivals, including Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, Parashuram Jayanti and Eid, passed off peacefully in UP while several states witnessed tension.

    The CM claimed that for the first time, Alvida Namaz was not held on roads this year. “Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti went off peacefully. For the first time, the last Friday namaz before Eid was not held on the streets. For namaz there is a place of worship. Religious functions can be held at mosques.” BJP state chief Swatantra Dev Singh congratulated PM Modi and Home minister Amit Shah and other leaders for the recent election victory.

  • Start preparing for 2024 Lok Sabha polls, target winning 75 seats in UP: Adityanath to BJP workers

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday asked BJP workers to start preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and move forward with the target of winning 75 out of the state’s 80 seats.

    In 2019, the BJP had won 62 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh while its ally Apna Dal(S) registered victory in two seats.

    “We have to prepare the ground for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from now only. We should move ahead with the target of winning 75 seats,” Adityanath said at the BJP’s one-day state executive meeting in Lucknow.

    This was the first state executive meeting of the BJP after the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

    “With the help of people and by dint of our hard work during Covid, we got better results in the assembly polls.”

    “In the 2024 general elections, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we have to march ahead with the target of winning 75 seats in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.

    Congratulating Modi for completing eight years as prime minister, Adityanath said with the 2024 roadmap, the BJP will succeed in its achieving its target.

    Earlier, addressing the meeting, BJP state chief Swatantra Dev Singh congratulated PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and senior party leaders and people of the state for the party’s victory in the assembly polls.

  • UP Assembly: CM slams Mamata over Bengal poll violence, counters Akhilesh

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slammed his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee over poll violence in her state and targeted Akhilesh Yadav, who heads the main opposition party back home, over his “false campaign” on farmers’ issues.

    Speaking on the motion of thanks on the Governor’s address to the state legislature, Adityanath listed the achievements of his previous government, comparing them with the one led earlier by Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.

    He hit out at Yadav for his reluctance to accept the “success” of the “double engine” government — a reference to the BJP being in power both at the Centre and in the state.

    The “double engine”, he said, “is working at triple speed”.

    He ridiculed the opposition leader for “blaming” the electronic voting machines for the SP’s defeat in the recent assembly polls, which brought the BJP back to power in UP for a second term in a row.

    “If they win, everything is alright. But if the BJP wins, there is some fault with the EVMs,” Adityanath said.

    “This is an insult to the people.”

    Without naming Trinamool Party leader Mamata Banerjee, Adityanath recalled her visit to the state during the UP campaign.

    “A ‘didi’ from West Bengal came in support of the Samajwadi Party in the elections,” he said, while attacking her government for the violence during the assembly elections in her state in 2021.

    He claimed that “12,000 incidents of violence” were reported from 142 of the 294 assembly seats in that state, and a large number of BJP workers targeted.

    “The population of West Bengal is half of Uttar Pradesh. There was no pre-poll or any post-poll violence in Uttar Pradesh. This is an example of law and order,” Adityanath said.

    On law and order in UP, he said, “Our government conducted the urban local bodies’ poll in 2017 without any violence. In the Lok Sabha polls too there was no violence. The 2021 panchayat elections were peaceful. The 2022 UP Assembly elections were also conducted in a peaceful manner.”

    He also compared Covid management in his state with that in Maharashtra.

    The CM said the entire state of UP has become an advocate (‘pakshdar’) of “Ram Rajya”.

    “Ram Rajya is not a religious system,” he added, calling it “eternal” and “universal”.

    “We are labelled nationalists, and we feel proud of it,” he said.

    “The condition of anyone devoid of nationalism is like that of a rat. The rat works to dismantle the foundation of the house in which it lives and gets its food from.”

    He claimed the opposition had tried its best to “hoodwink” the people of UP on the farmer’s issue, referring to their year-long protest over Centre’s now scrapped agri-laws.

    But the farmers rejected the “false campaign” which is clear from the fact that the BJP won from 46 of the 58 assembly seats in the first phase of elections, mainly in the areas dominated by farmers, he said.

    The maximum number of farmers committed suicide in the state between 2004 and 2016,” he claimed, referring to UP under previous governments.

    “Despite inheriting the bad financial condition of the state, we waived the loan of 86 lakh farmers,” he said.

    He said during the SP term, the state government spent Rs 17,190 crore on paddy purchase but for the same period from 2017 his own government paid Rs 42,244 crore to farmers for their crop.

    “The Leader of Opposition gave a good speech. But it would have been good had he spoken something about his government,” he said, referring to Yadav’s remarks on the Governor’s address.

    Adityanath also referred to alleged scams during the SP term and said it would have been good if there was a discussion on them as well.

    Unlike in the SP term, recruitment in government departments took place without favouritism or bribes, he said.

    Later, Yadav countered the CM’s claims on development and highlighted the migration of labourers during the Covid pandemic.

    The SP leader said he had earlier opposed the Covid vaccine because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph on the certificates given to people who took the jab.