Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday visited Sonbhadra district and laid foundation stones for 217 development projects worth Rs 414 crore. He also laid the foundation stone for an agricultural science centre to provide technical assistance to the farmers of the region. Speaking at the programme, Adityanath said that “under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, development work under the double-engine government is moving ahead at pace”. At the programme held in Sonbhadra, the chief minister handed over keys, certificates, cheques, and fluoride removal kits to beneficiaries of different welfare schemes. Adityanath directed the district administration to allot land to forest dwellers under forest rights. He said that action should be taken for the allotment of land to 11,000 forest dweller families by setting up camps so that no poor and forest dweller family is deprived of its rights. The Chief Minister said that all the schemes of the central and state governments are being implemented with complete transparency. “Sonbhadra is considered the focal point of energy of Uttar Pradesh. The people of this place were not able to get sufficient electricity in the past. Work is being done for adequate power supply to every house in the district,” said Adityanath. He said that in order to solve the drinking water crisis in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts, work is being done to provide pure drinking water through “Har Ghar Nal Yojana”. “So far, free housing facility has been provided to more than one lakh families in Sonbhadra district through Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and Chief Minister Awas Yojana,” said the CM. He said that the airport in Sonbhadra is being expanded and “positive steps are being taken to develop the district as the centre of eco-tourism”. “After the opening of Medical College in Sonbhadra, the Prime Minister's dream of one district, one medical college is being brought to reality,” he said. He urged people to send their children to school, saying educated children will not only take care of their families in the future but also contribute to the development of the state and the country. Adityanath said Lord Ram “kept under a tent” by previous governments will sit in his own temple in Ayodhya next year while the state's development schemes will turn it into a “Ram Rajya”. He was referring to the makeshift arrangements for the Ram idol in Ayodhya while the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case was fought in courts. “Those who held power for decades kept Lord Ram under a tent, but in 2024 Lord Ram is going to sit in his grand temple. All the ongoing schemes in Uttar Pradesh are the foundation stone for a Ram Rajya," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the consecration in January of the new Ram Lalla idol at the temple under construction, the CM had said at an Ayodhya rally a day earlier. —With PTI Inputs
