Showering praise on the Uttar Pradesh government for being able to maintain acceleration in development even during the COVID-19 crisis, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday laid the foundation stone of 23 rural drinking water schemes worth Rs 5,555 crore in the Vindhya region of the state under the Jal Shakti Mission.

“It is unfortunate that the Vindhya and Bundelkhand regions of UP, which boasts of having rivers like Ganga, Sone, Shipra and Karmnasha, have had to face water crisis due to government apathy since Independence. Now the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre and the Yogi Adityanath government in the state have taken up the responsibility to rid people of these regions of the drinking water problems,” the prime minister said while laying the foundation stone of the schemes at a virtual function in Sonbhadra in the presence of  UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and UP Jal Shakti Minister Mahendra Singh.

He said it was a matter of time when about 41 lakh people of about 3,000 villages would get tap water in their homes.

The prime minister said that in the near future, villagers of Vindhya region would not have to struggle for drinking water. 

“Rural women are going to get rid of the arduous and painstaking efforts to carry water from miles away. Under the scheme, 1,606 villages of Mirzapur and 1,389 villages of Sonbhadra will get water through pipeline with the projects costing Rs 2,343.crore and Rs 3,212.18 crore in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra respectively. In addition, the Atal Bhujal Yojana will also augment the efforts of conserving and purifying lake and pond water,” he said.

Modi praised the Uttar Pradesh government profusely for its pro-people approach, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. He said UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his team and people of the state deserved applause for what they did to take care of migrant workers and other harried people during the trying times of coronavirus pandemic, 

“Uttar Pradesh sarkar ne kamaal kiya hai,”  he said.

The prime minister reminded people how the Yogi government worked for containing the Japanese encephalitis which has taken thousands of lives of innocent children over the years. 

“In fact, the Yogi government’s encephalitis management has been the most talked about achievement and has earned praise from experts as well,’’ the prime minister said, and added, “Yogi ji cannot imagine how much blessings he must be receiving from the people of this state.”

Terming the day as historic, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that in the past 70-75 years since Independence, only 398 villages of the Vindhya region had drinking water facilities and today, work had been started to supply pure drinking water to about 3,000 villages.

“Today is not less than a festival for the people of the Vindhya region as pure drinking water means freedom from diseases. The foundation is being laid to free people from diseases and the region will be freed from the problem of non availability of pure drinking water in the next one-and-half years,” Yogi said.

“The Dhanraul Dam, which was built in 1917, is endowed with abundant water and till now it was only used for irrigation purposes. Now, it will also serve as a medium for drinking water to the region,” he added.

“For the first time after Independence, such a big project is being started in the Vindhya region. This region is also full of natural resources and given the immense possibilities of tourism, the airstrip is also being extended,” the chief minister said.

He said that while going by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, the UP government was carrying forward the developmental activities without any discrimination and the interest of the people was the interest of the country and the state.   

The chief minister said the Sonbhadra administration was also preparing a coffee-table book and the state government would be branding every small and big feature of the region through it. 

“It will also help in employment generation. Sonbhadra is a tribal majority area and it will not be wrong if we call it the place of origin of tribes,” Yogi said.