Uttar Pradesh health minister Siddharth Nath Singh, while giving his government’s report card after 100 days in power, declared that 86 lakh farmers in the state have benefitted from the loan waiver announced by the government. Also, with the 181 helpline for women and the anti-romeo squad, women in the state are safer now.

“The loan waiver benefitted all small and marginalised farmers who took crop loans till March 31, 2016. All of the remaining amount due till March 31, 2017, has been paid by the government under this scheme. This cost the state exchequer an extra Rs 36,000 crore but we stood by our promise,” said Singh.

“Also, ever since we came to power, each district headquarters gets 24-hour power supply, rural areas get 18-hour power supply and while 20-hour power supply is being given to Bundelkhand and each tehsil in the state,” said Singh. While he listed various “positive steps” that the Yogi government took in the first 100 days of its rule, he did not have much to offer on the arrest of people like BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal, booked in the April 20 clashes for allegedly instigating communal violence during a procession in Saharanpur.

“Disciplinary action is taken against any BJP worker found crossing the line. I agree that Lakhanpal has not been arrested yet but there are various others like three Hindu Yuva Vahini men in Bareilly who have been booked and arrested without any delay after charges of gang-raping a woman were pressed on them,” said Singh.

The minister further assured the residents of Meerut that the city is on the verge of getting better infrastructure in the form of airport, rapid rail transit system and roads. He put aside questions related to smart city and said that it was not the fault of BJP MLAs and MPs that Meerut has been unable to get into the smart city list. Instead, he said, it was the fault of the administrative officials, who were responsible for making the proposal and putting other documents in place.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/