Gorakhpur: Ahead of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slammed the Gandhi scion, saying that the city was not a picnic spot. Mr Adityanath today launched ‘Swachh Uttar Pradesh, Swasth Uttar Pradesh’ campaign and took broom in his hand to sweep the roads in the city’s Andhiyari Bagh locality. Slamming the Congress leader, Mr Adityanath said,” Delhi mein baitha koi yuvraj swachhta abhiyan ka mahatv nahi jaanega. Gorakhpur unke liye picnic spot bane uski ijazat nahi deni chahiye (A yuvraj sitting in Delhi cannot think about the importance of cleanliness. Gorakhpur has turned into a picnic spot for them and hence they should not be allowed to do so).” He also termed SP president Akhilesh Yadav as ‘Lucknow ka Shahzada’ without taking his name and also criticised him for taking the state into the era of backwardness. “These Yuvraj and Shahzada were in Gorakhpur just for a picnic and people should protest against such act,” he added. In his brief address before launching the cleanliness drive in the state which will continue till August 25 after garlanding the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar, the CM lambasted the parties, which ruled the state for the past 12 to 15 years for turning the state into backwardness.” Governments in last 12-15 yrs ruined institutions in UP for their selfish motives by institutionalising corruption and deprived people of facilities,” he added. The CM also blamed the corruption in the administration behind the BRD medical college hospital oxygen shortage and indirectly held the previous Samajwadi Party government responsible for it. “The previous governments in UP did not do anything for cleanliness as they were only interested in minting money through corruption,”he alleged. “It is our target to see Gorakhpur clean and beautiful so that it can also be free of any disease,” he added. Mr Adityanath said, “I started movement against Encephalitis in eastern UP. When it comes to its prevention, it is better than cure and it starts with sanitation,” the CM further said. He reiterated that the BJP government has already made 1,627 villages on the banks of the river Ganga free from Open Defecation Free(ODF) while it will be done in 30 districts by December 30 next. “If we want to eradicate encephalitis, then we will have to go for cleanliness drive and safe drinking water,” he said. The CM also announced that this season, 93 lakh children were administered vaccination of encephalitis in 38 districts of eastern UP. After the function, the CM left for the flood affected Maharganj, Sidharthnagar and other districts where he will assess the situation.
