NDA govt pumps funds to woo UP ahead of elections

With elections approaching, it’s pouring funds in Uttar Pradesh. In the wake of high-stake Assembly elections scheduled for next year, the BJP-led government in Delhi is pushing major development and infrastructure projects and pumping funds into the state.

A conservative estimate indicates that the state’s three major cities, represented by the BJP’s three top leaders — Lucknow (Rajnath Singh), Varanasi (Narendra Modi) and Kanpur (Murli Manohar Joshi) — will get “double benefit” under both, Smart City and Smart Ganga City projects.

They will each get Rs 500 crore under the Smart City project, and projects worth Rs 560 crore and 229 crore respectively for Kanpur and Varanasi have already been launched under Smart Ganga City, with more to follow.

The Smart Ganga City project was launched last month by Union urban development minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and water resources minister Uma Bharti in 10 cities. Under this project sewage infrastructure and drainage system of these cities will be developed on a priority basis.

Road, transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari also plans to invest Rs 2 lakh crore for developing and enhancing road infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh. Projects worth Rs 70,000 crore have already been announced, while several more likely to be made public closer to elections.

For road infrastructure, Rs 1,500 is expected to be invested in an expressway from Kanpur to Lucknow, and Rs 2,459 crore has been earmarked for three other roads connecting Varanasi to Jaunpur, Azamgarh and Gazipur. Together, these three cities alone amount to 24 Assembly constituencies in UP’s 404-member Assembly.

The BJP is expected to make these projects one of its main poll planks, since the party has declared that “development and governance” will be its key mantra during campaigning.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will be leading the campaign, will cash-in on these projects.

Eyebrows, however, are being raised on how a city like Kanpur could bag a slot in the Smart City list as it has one of the highest rates of pollution. The stretch of Ganga that flows through Kanpur records maximum contamination.

Kanpur and Lucknow, in fact, figured in the list of world’s top 20 most polluted cities released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in June this year.

Also, both Kanpur and Varanasi lag far behind in one of the most vital criteria to qualify for a Smart City — number of households with toilets. According to estimates, 12 per cent of open defecation around the world takes place in Uttar Pradesh. Over 15 per cent of the population in Varanasi does not have access to toilets, and over 80 per cent of the city remains without a sewage system.

The NGT last year warned of complete closure of over 700 tanneries in Kanpur, terming them as one of the “highest sources of pollution”.

Sensing that the party desperately needs an electoral victory in UP to consolidate its position for the 2019 general elections, crores of rupees under Smart Ganga City project, part of Namami Gange program, have been allocated for strengthening sewage treatment infrastructure, beautifying and renovating ghats, and building crematoriums along the Ganga in UP.

Union water resources minister Uma Bharti along with Kanpur MP and saffron veteran Murli Manohar Joshi on August 19 launched projects worth Rs 560 crore in Kanpur that includes improvement of polluted Sisamau drain and creation of more ghats and crematoriums.

Projects worth Rs 560 crore launched under Smart Ganga City in Kanpur Projects worth Rs 229 crore in Varanasi for rejuvenation of the Assi river, renovation of ghats, crematoriums, sewage treatment plant Rs 1,500 crore for expressway between Kanpur and Lucknow Rs 2,459 crore for three roads — Varanasi-Jaunpur, Varanasi-Azamgarh and Varanasi-Gazipur. Approximately Rs 500 crore each to Lucknow, Varanasi, Kanpur under the Smart City Project