Ayodhya dispute: Yogi Adityanath hails Centre's plea seeking to release excess land, says move was 'needed for India's prestige'

Prayagraj: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday welcomed the Centre’s recent move on the Ram temple issue, saying the move was needed for the country’s “prestige”. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister was referring to the writ petition filed by the central government in the Supreme Court to transfer ’excess’, undisputed land to the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas. “I congratulate the Centre’s decision and this is in the country’s favour. The dispute has been going on for many years, and my government has been telling this from the beginning. An application has been submitted by the Centre. Now we must get permission to work on the undisputed land. We welcome this move of the central government. This was needed for the country’s prestige,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_5661321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. PTI[/caption] While addressing the media, Adityanath also spoke about the decisions taken by the cabinet pertaining to the road connectivity of the state and said that they have given nod for the construction of Ganga Expressway. “Ganga Expressway that connects Prayagraj with western Uttar Pradesh, will be the world’s longest expressway at about 600 kilometres on 6556 hectares of land and Rs 36,000 crore will be required for the project,” he said. Adityanath also assured government efforts to double the income of the farmers by rolling out new policies. He added that people who have contracted leprosy will be allotted one house under Chief Minister’s Housing Scheme. This is likely to benefit 3,791 leprosy patients. In addition to this, the cabinet also agreed to construct the Gorakhpur link of Purvanchal Expressway. As much as Rs 5,555 crore is slated to be invested to link the 91-kilometre long highway. The state government will also undertake the move to beautify parks and will build Nishadaraj’s statue in the vicinity of one of the park. The constructions of a statue of Maharishi Valmiki and the Ramayana Research Institute in the hills between Chitrakoot and Prayagraj were given approval in the cabinet meeting. In an attempt to woo people, the chief minister further announced that no taxes will be levied on the ‘Uri’ movie ticket. “We have lifted the taxes on the film Uri which is based on surgical strikes,” he said. In his concluding remark, he lauded the prime minister for making efforts to clean river Ganga under the Swachh Bharat campaign. “Kumbh is special this year because of many reasons. We are thankful to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for cleaning River Ganga under the Swachh Bharat campaign,” he said. Notably, this is the first time that Adityanath held a cabinet meeting in Prayagraj during the ongoing Kumbh Mela in the city. He along with other cabinet ministers are likely to take a holy bath at Sangham Ghat later in the day.