Outlook English - Print Subscribers Copy Outlook English, 16 April 2018 | Page 6

Under a new initiative , damaged transformers are being repaired in 48 hours in villages while in urban areas such transformers are being made functional within 24 hours . A total of 11,344 new transformers have been set up so far .
Under the Saubhagya Scheme , families living under poverty line in villages are given free electric connection and 32 lakh families have already got this benefit . The existing rules have been changed and now connections upto 5 KW will be available in easy instalments . On demand for 3 new connections the department will bear the expenditure to install one electric pole and wire network . Under the ‘ SarvadaYojana ’ about 20 lakh subscribers have got rid of their pending dues . A helpline 1912 has been launched to registor complaints related to power supply . In addition , 7850 solar street lights have been installed .
Education for All : For the first time the government managed to successfully conduct copying and unfair means free High School and Intermediate examinations .
All schools affliated to UP basic education board have registered a remarkable increase in enrollment of students . The 1,58,837 Basic Shikhsa Parishad schools have enrolled 1,54,22,047 children . All government recognized schools have been offering free text books to the students of class 1 to 8 .
The students of UP basic education board , and government-aided schools have been given free uniforms to distribute among 1.67 crore students of class 1 to 8 . For the first-time , students in the schools run by the board have been provided with free school bag , shoes , socks and sweater .
The government has fixed a minimum of 220 functional and working days for teachers . For the first time it has been decided that 147 brilliant students will be given Rs 1 lakh , a tablet and a citation . Students securing top positions
in high school examination in the state will be given a Rs 2000 per month till post-graduation under the Pt . Deen Dayal Upadhyay scholarship scheme .
For better research , new discoveries and quality , Pt Deen Dayal Upadhayay Research Chair has been constituted in 14 state universities . Adequate funds have also been sanctioned for state engineering colleges in Pratapgarh , Gonda , Basti and Mirzapur . Construction of 19 government polytechnics and 17 hostels have been completed while 33 polytechnics now have free Wi-Fi facility . Ten government polytechnics have got placement cells for providing better employment opportunities .
All Roads to Development : CM Yogi Adityanath wants to bring investments in the state and he knows this needs a smooth connectivity within the state as well as outside the state . Soon after taking the charge of the state he directed to revamp the roads . He directed the public works department to made all roads pot-hole free . In just one year 80 percent of the roads have been made pot-hole free . Earlier there was a fair amount of corruption in public sector in the state . For this the process of E-Tendering has been introduced . In an important move , the government has decided to keep the contractors with a criminal background or a tainted image completely out of the tendering process for which a government order has already been issued . On the initiative of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath , a world level conference was organized to look at the new technologies used worldwide for building roads .
In another major move it has been decided to connect the national capital with the eastern part of the state through a Purvanchal Expressway . This expressway will be built from Lucknow to Ghazipur over 340.824 km at a cost of Rs 23598.118 crore .
For this 86 per cent land has already been acquired and the process is on for acquiring the remaining 14 per cent . A budgetary provision for Rs 550 crores has been made to link Gorakhpur with the Purvanchal Expressway .
For the economic and industrial development of Bundelkhand , a decision has been taken to build a Bundelkhand Link Expressway . In the financial year of 2017-18 a budget of Rs 650 crore has been marked for the purpose .
For villages identified under the ‘ Sankalp Sewa ’ scheme 50 exclusive buses have been introduced for regular plying . Online booking and reservation facilities are now being offered for 4700 buses . Modern bus stations have been inaugurated in Gorakhpur , Mainpuri , Shahjahanpur and Sitapur while 18