PM Modi praises UP for turning 'disaster' into 'opportunity'

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, June 26

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday praised the Yogi Aditynath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for turning an “aapda” (disaster) into an “avasar” (opportunity).

In his 34-minute address to the nation after remotely inaugurating UP government’s ambitious Pradhan Mantri Gharib Kalyan Rozgaar Abhiyaan, Modi said that the campaign would go a long was to strengthen the central government’s vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

“When the rest of the country was grappling with the problems thrown up by the pandemic, the Uttar Pradesh government has managed to keep deaths to a little more than 600, arranged the return of more than 35 lakh out-of-work workers, successfully completed the skill mapping of 30.47 lakh workers who returned home and is now launching the Pradhan Mantri Gharib Kalyan Rozgaar Abhiyaan,” said Modi.

Presenting Uttar Pradesh as an example of what courage and hard work could achieve, PM Modi said that UP’s population at 24 crore was equal to the combined  population of four developed European countries, namely United Kingdom, France, Spain and Italy.

“Despite their  better resources and medical infrastructure, these four European countries have collectively lost more than one lakh lives to the pandemic, while UP with much less resources has lost only 600 lives till date,” said PM Modi.

Until now, UP has lost 634 lives to the pandemic.

Earlier, PM Modi virtually interacted with six entrepreneurs who have benefitted from various employment schemes of the state and central governments and have managed to employ returning workers in their businesses.

Siddharnagar’s Qurban Ali, a mason in Mumbai, told the PM that he had returned home along with his brother in May and has now managed to find work helping in the construction of state government’s community toilet project in his village.

Similarly, Nagendra, who had returned to Gorakhpur from Ahmedabad, to the PM that he had managed Rs 1 lakh loan, bought a buffalo to start a dairy project. He said that at Rs 365 per day he was earning more than what he earned in Ahmedabad as a laborer in a stainless steel utensil factory.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Gharib Kalyan Rozgaar Abhiyaan, the UP government proposes to combine all employment schemes to provide employment to 1.25 crore people.

While over 35 lakh workers have returned to UP, there are 31 districts where over 35,000 workers from Mumbai, Delhi and other big cities have returned which is where the new employment programme is focused.