UP CM Adityanath takes up broom to clean Lucknow slum

Uttar Pradesh chief minister on Sunday took up a broom to clean capital Lucknow's densely populated area after the Swachh Bharat survey revealed that most of the cities in the state are among the filthiest in the country.

Adityanath, accompanied by urban development minister Suresh Khanna and other party functionaries went about sweeping densely populated Balu Adda area of the capital city, launching a cleanliness drive to encourage people to keep their cities clean.

The drive, the first-ever known to local residents, comes as a sequel to the Swatch Bharat survey revelations that most of the cities in the state are among the filthiest in the country, with Gonda being adjudged as the filthiest in the country.

None of the cities, barring Varanasi, from the state found a place in the list of 100 cleanest cities in 'Swachh Survekshan-2017.

Even Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow got 269th rank in the centre's cleanliness survey.

Shouting Jai Sri Ram and Bharat Mata Ki jai, chief minister Adityanath and his entourage cleaned about 300-metre stretch of the access road to the slum to ''create awareness'' about cleanliness among the masses during the 30-minute-long drive that stared at 7 am.

''People often hesitate to clean even their own surroundings. Our today's initiatives aimed at changing this mindset and motivating people to keep their own vicinity clean,'' urban development minister said, as he removed silts from the drains.

Khanna said such drive would be carried out on first Saturdays of every month in various parts of the state.

Chief minister also inspected the lone public toilet in the area and asked the municipal staffers to keep it clean after reportedly assuring a pay hike.

''Yogiji has asked us to keep the toilet clean. After enquiring about our salary which is a meagre Rs 2500, he assured us a hike,'' said Poonam Kumari, one of the staffers.

People of Balu Adda that has some 1,000 households, however, said more than cleanliness, they need portable water.

Union minister Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday with the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, the state has joined the "Mission Modi", an acronym for "making of developing India".

The urban development minister, who held a meeting with the chief minister and senior officials, handed over release order of Rs1,263 crore for different projects in the state.

"UP lagged behind in implementing the schemes of the Centre and the reason is that the previous government did not had the intention to do so. I'm not levelling any allegation but stating a fact, people have already given them a reply," Naidu said in a joint press conference with Yogi Adityanath.

The release orders, handed over by the union minister, included Rs375 crore for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Rs442 crore for Smart City Mission and Rs446 crore for Lucknow Metro project. Lucknow has been given Rs119 crore, while Rs107 crore each has been given to Agra, Kanpur and Varanasi, Naidu said, adding that Rs2 crore have been given to Meerut and Rae Bareli for sending a proposal under the smart city mission.

The Union minister said 61 cities of the state, including Ayodhya, have been included in AMRUT to work on three main components of potable water, sanitation and solid waste management. The recommendation for Noida and Greater Noida metro rail project of 29.7 km, worth Rs5,503 crore, will soon be okayed and there is also a proposal before the NCRTC board of Delhi- Meerut regional rapid transit system on a 90 km stretch, worth Rs32,000 crore, Naidu said.