Yogi Adityanath blames previous regimes for emptying Uttar Pradesh's coffers

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday alleged that “mismanagement” during the previous SP and BSP regimes had emptied the state’s coffers while corruption thrived and development came to a standstill. [caption id=“attachment_3924977” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Yogi Adityanath. PTI[/caption] A day before his government completes six months in office, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister released a 24-page white paper on the functioning of previous regimes which blames them for a poor show on various fronts. Before presenting the achievements of our government in these six months, it is important to bring a white paper on the working of the previous governments, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister told reporters. Due to the “faulty policies” of the previous governments, there was an imbalance in the financial condition of the state, the chief minister claimed. By the time the present government took over, the coffers were empty and debts were very high, Adityanath said. “Development works came to a standstill…brakes were applied not on corruption but on development,” he said as he lambasted the governments that preceded him. Presenting statistics to point towards the “dismal state” of Public Sector Units (PSUs) in the state, Adityanath said that 65 such entities suffered losses worth Rs 6,489.58 crore in 2011-12. These losses rose to Rs 17,789.91 crore in 2015-17 while the collective losses of PSUs in 2011-12 stood at Rs 29,380.10 crore which rose to Rs 91,401.19 crore in 2015-16, he said. PSUs which could have been used for the development of the state in the past 12 to 15 years have closed down and this proves how “irresponsible, corrupt and anti-people”, the previous governments have been, he said. Adityanath presented data to show that debt had risen two and a half times in the past ten years. Patronage was extended to anti-social elements as well as the corrupt and anarchy was created during this period, he added. “There has been a series of misdeeds by governments in the state during the past 12 to 15 years but we have focussed on some main points and presented them in a concise form…It is important as we are answerable to the people and committed to them,” he said. In the past six months, BJP government is working in line with its commitment towards the people, Adityanath claimed adding that the white paper was brought to expose the previous governments before the people. The 24-page document refers to law and order, farmers’ plight, sale of sugar mills, PWD, police recruitment, irregularities in UPPSC recruitment, NRHM, education, power, medical education, tourism and culture, housing and urban planning, women welfare and child development, excise, industrial development, minority welfare, construction of memorials and public transport.