Lucknow, Nov 7: Nearly 1,600 villages in Uttar Pradesh that have remained
deprived of welfare schemes since Independence would be brought into the
development mainstream, said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath here on Tuesday.
Addressing a public gathering after unveiling HCL’s CSR initiative Samuday, Mr
Adityanath said investment by big companies like HCL would boost the state’s industrial sector and
generate greater employment opportunities for youth. Hailing the efforts of companies like HCL, the Chief Minister said the company
is working in the rural sector to help improve living standards of villagers and help the state government to
facilitate their basic needs like health, education and shelter. Talking about ‘open defecation free’ (ODF) programme, he said that six
districts have been declared ODF so far and the government was taking measures
to make at least 30 more villages ODF till the end of the year. “Educated and responsible persons of society should also spread awareness about
development initiatives of state government,” he suggested.
Claiming that 45,000 villages had been electrified so far, Yogi said that with
the help of solar energy the government was aiming at electrifying the entire
state by the end of 2018. Addressing the gathering Roshni Nadar Malhotra, chief executive officer, HCL
Corporation and chairperson of the CSR Committee, said, “HCL foundation
believes that positive social change can be brought by innovative and creative
models of development. We feel that through the Samuday model it will be
possible to develop a blueprint that is sustainable, scalable and replicable
throughout the world.” Navalpreet Kaur, director, Project Samuday, said, “HCL will help us bring a
positive impact through its various interventions in the areas of education,
livelihood, health, infrastructure, wash and sanitation and agriculture.” UNI
