Niti Aayog pats Yogi’s back on development in UP

Lucknow, Nov 9: The Niti Aayog on Thursday patted Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s back by  saying that development in Uttar Pradesh was back on track."

UP to aab chal pada hai (UP has started moving now)," Niti Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said in the presence of Chief Minister. Addressing a press conference after holding a review meeting with nine working groups and the Chief Minister separately, Mr Kumar, on his maiden visit to his home town, said work in all the sectors was progressing speedily, except for some teething troubles in the Pradhanmanti Awas Yogjna (Urban) and financial grants from Centre in the open defecation free (ODF) scheme. The meeting was attended by Niti Aayog officials and nine working groups dealing with priority sectors like nutrition, health, education, cleanness, irrigation, labour, agriculture, industry and urban development. Mr Kumar said UP was the growth engine of the country and without its development, the country cannot move ahead. 'But in seven months, UP has crossed almost all hurdles to accelerate the momentum of development works," he said.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is chairman of Niti Aayog, is expected to attend the next quarterly meeting between the Aayog and UP government in January. "There is a big challenge to complete the target in the urban Pradhanmantri Awas Yojna in UP though the project’s progress in rural areas is very good. The urban project will certainly need more focus as it will generate employment for a larger chunk of the population," he said. Commenting on Mr Adityanath’s announcement on making state ODF by October 2018, Mr Kumar said the 
state government had raised the issue with the Union Finance Ministry and it will be taken care by Niti Aayog. However, confusion arose in the press conference when the Aayog vice-chairman said the UP government had constructed 10 lakh houses under the rural Pradhanmantri Awas Yojana when, actually, the target was around nine lakhs. State Health Minister Siddharthnath Singh, who was present at the press meet, announced that the Prime Minister would be invited to the next quarterly review meeting in January. UNI