Yogi Adityanath lauds Shivraj Singh Chouhan for Narmada conservation project

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is greeted on his arrival at Dumna airport in Jabalpur on Friday. PTI

CHIEF MINISTER Yogi Adityanath on Friday lauded his Madhya Pradesh counterpart Shivraj Singh Chouhan for implementing the Narmada Seva Yatra and said he was the most popular chief minister the state had seen. Adityanath, who was on his first visit to Madhya Pradesh after taking over as chief minister, said at a rally in Dindori, “Duniya ke sabse bade nadi sanrakshan yojana ko murt roop dene ke liye pradesh ke sarvadhik lokpriya mukhya mantri, karmath aur samvedanshil shivraj singh chouhan ka hardik abhinandan karta hu” (I congratulate the state’s most popular, hardworking and sensitive Chief Minister for implementing the world’s largest river conservation project.” The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said he had heard a lot about the project and wanted to gain first-hand knowledge which he could use in the implementation of a Rs 20,000-crore central project to purify the Ganga. He described the initiative to clean the Ganga as a huge challenge.

Madhya Pradesh has invited several well-known personalities to attend the yatra that began on December 11 and will end on May 15. “It is not a campaign to just conserve a river, but the entire humanity,’’ he said and offered Uttar Pradesh’s support to the initiative. Recalling his visit to Madhya Pradesh more than a decade ago, Adityanath said it was a backward state that was the weakest in agriculture production and had bad roads. He went on to praise the state for its current wheat production and experiments in agriculture and said it had become a leader in several fields. Referring to the Simhastha Kumbha organized in Ujjain in 2016, he said all saints were happy with the event.

Describing Chouhan as a sensitive person, he said he had sent a team of officials from Uttar Pradesh to study successful schemes in Madhya Pradesh like Mukhyamantri Kanyadaan and Ladli Laxmi. Chouhan said a resolution to declare the Narmada a living entity would be moved in the Assembly. Once the resolution is passed, rules with provision to penalise those damaging the river by engaging in activities like illegal excavation will be notified. He said as many as 12 crore saplings will be planted along the Narmada on July 2. While reiterating his resolve to gradually introduce prohibition in the state, he said a misinformation campaign had been launched that the proposed ban would result in the felling of mahua trees. “Mahua trees not be felled. In fact, the government will buy mahua flowers at Rs 30 a kg,’’ he said.