Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has instructed the district magistrates of the districts affected by excessive rain to carry out relief work with full preparedness and has asked senior officers to visit the affected areas and keep an eye on the relief work.

The chief minister said that in the event of water-logging, arrangements for drainage should be made in the affected areas on priority.  For this, if need be, water pumps should be installed to tackle the problems of water-logging, he added.

“Immediate relief should be provided to the people affected by the calamity. In case of loss of life and animal loss, the admissible relief amount should be provided to the victims without any delay,” the chief minister said in a statement issued here on Friday.

Untimely heavy rains have lashed parts of Uttar Pradesh, including the state capital, in the last few days, breaking the records of the last 21 years. During the last fortnight about 50 people have died of rain-related incidents across the state.

The chief minister has directed the officials of all departments concerned, including Revenue, Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Urban Development, Medical and Health, Animal Husbandry to be active in conducting relief operations.

“All the departments should work in a coordinated manner so that the benefits of the government schemes reach the people who are in need of immediate help. Local lawmakers should also help the district administration in extending help to the need,” the chief minister said.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, on Friday, gave clear instructions to the officials of the Rural Development Department (RDD) to expedite works and ensure their completion within the stipulated time frame or be ready to face the music.

Maurya, who holds the Rural Development Department portfolio, also directed officials concerned to achieve the desired target and continuously review and monitor the works underway.

“The ground reality should be inspected by visiting the field,” Maurya said while asserting that a solid and effective strategy and working with team spirit would ensure excellent results.

He asked the officials to set up KPIs (key performance indicators) of all the schemes of the Rural Development Department so that all projects could be monitored accordingly.

According to the deputy chief minister, targets should be allotted to the in-charges of all the schemes and they should prepare a roadmap for every six months and give results beyond the targets.

Maurya was reviewing the implementation and progress of the schemes of the Rural Development Department in a high-level meeting held in his office at Vidhan Bhawan here on Friday.

He said the schemes being run for villages should be implemented in time and no stone should be left unturned.

For women self-reliance and empowerment, instructions were given to specially focus on the schemes run under the State Rural Livelihood Mission. Women's participation in MGNREGA projects, Prerna Ojas, Rural Livelihood Express Scheme, Prerna Canteen, distribution of nutrition by self-help groups, operation of fair price shops by group members, management of community toilets etc.. He said focus should especially be on schemes being run for women empowerment.

The deputy chief minister directed officials to ensure that there was uniformity in all the buildings of the Rural Development Department by painting them with a unique colour with motivational slogans on village uplift written on all the buildings.  He said a logo of the Rural Development Department should be also made.

Maurya said that plaques of all 26 lakh beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) should be installed on acrylic sheet, on which other details should be shown along with the photo of the beneficiary.

He said that all permissible facilities should be made available to the beneficiaries of PM Awas Yojana (Rural) and verification should also be done whether the benefit of all the facilities allowed in this scheme was 100 per cent or not.

He said there should not be any disparity in the payment under MGNREGA and as per the rules, it should be ensured that everyone's dues were paid on time. He said that by developing an effective system in the State Rural Livelihood Mission, all the payment related problems should be resolved quickly.

The deputy chief minister said effective action should be taken towards setting up of Village Aggregation Centre under the State Rural Livelihood Mission. He said that to increase the income of self-help groups, maximum work should be given to SHGs by forming CIB Board (Common Information Board).

He asked the officials to ensure that the work of the Rural Development Department was clearly visible on the ground.

Maurya also gave instructions to complete the construction work of THR (Take Home Ration) projects on time.

He said that encouraging results were coming out of the construction of Amrit Sarovars and this work was being praised all around. He said that tree plantation should be done by barricading the government land lying around the Amrit Sarovars so that illegal encroachment did not take place on that land.

Maurya directed that officers, employees and heads doing good work be encouraged and rewarded. He said publicity should be made of the notable works of the department and action should be taken to provide a suitable market for marketing the products manufactured by SHGs.

He said that the State Rural Development Institutes should speed up the training programmes.

To ensure that the rivers across Uttar Pradesh remain pollution-free, the Central government, under National Mission for Clean Ganga Project, has approved eight new projects, including sewerage management, in the state.

“Under this, 80 drains will be tapped in Varanasi besides construction of sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Vrindavan and at Kosi Kalan in Mathura. A major project of setting up of biodiversity parks in four districts -- Hapur, Bulandshahr, Budaun and Mirzapur -- has also been approved,” a government spokesman said here on Friday.

In the 45th meeting of the executive committee of the National Mission for Clean Ganga, four projects have been approved for sewage management, including one in Varanasi. The project also includes construction of 55 MLD capacity STP for tapping Assi Nullah. The total estimated cost of this project is Rs 308.09 crore. 

“The project of Varanasi aims to achieve the target of zero untreated discharge from three drains -- Assi, Samne Ghat and Nakhi,” the government spokesman said.

Other projects include construction of 13 MLD STP and renovation of existing structures. This includes construction of 12 MLD STP at Vrindavan at a cost of Rs 77.70 crore and laying of interception and diversion network.

These projects of Mathura-Vrindavan are envisaged to intercept and divert 11 drains which pollute the river Yamuna.

A big project of setting up of four biodiversity parks in four districts of Hapur, Bulandshahr, Budaun and Mirzapur has also been approved, with an estimated cost of Rs 24.97 crore. Their names are Mohanpur Biodiversity Park in Mirzapur, Ramghat Biodiversity Park in Bulandshahr, Alamgirpur Biodiversity Park in Hapur and Ujhani Biodiversity Park in Budaun.

All these four places are situated on the flood plains of the river Ganga. The proposed parks are part of the reserve forests along the flood plains of the Ganges and will play an important role in river rejuvenation and biodiversity conservation, the spokesman said.

“Biodiversity parks will provide unique landscapes to the forest with a combination of native plant and animal species, creating self-sustaining biological communities maintained in an area. The overall outcome of the Ganga Biodiversity Parks will help in maintaining ecosystem services, biodiversity and rejuvenation of the river Ganga at basin scale,” he said.

With the aim to provide quality education, the Uttar Pradesh government has initiated a scheme under which well-equipped private schools will be able to adopt state-run primary schools craving for resources.

The district magistrates and chief development officers have been given the responsibility to implement the scheme. The officers concerned will motivate and encourage the management of private schools and reputed educational institutions to adopt government primary schools, Principal Secretary (Education) Deepak Kumar said.

According to the National Education Policy-2020, the Basic Education Department has issued instructions for pairing of council’s primary and upper primary schools with private schools. Under this, private schools have also been given the option of adopting council schools.

“If a private school chooses this option, then the children studying in the council schools will be greatly benefited. They will not only be able to use the infrastructure of the private schools but will also benefit from their educational system,” Kumar said.

Under this process, private schools, recognised non-government schools, higher educational institutions or universities can adopt any government primary or upper primary school near it. After adoption, the requisite support will be provided to the council schools. This includes collaborative supervision, creation of TLM (Teaching Learning Material) for use by teachers and children, production of grade compliant educational videos, science related projects, providing sci-math kits, books, games for the library.

The order issued by Principal Secretary Deepak Kumar said that this process should be implemented between private and council schools in such a way that all the educational institutions concerned could cooperate and coordinate with each other's experiences and educational resources.

“The best practices of both the types of schools will be recorded and shared with all the educational institutions so that other schools of the district can be benefitted. Not only this, the progress of this entire process will also be reviewed in the monthly meeting,” he said.

The 81st annual session of the Indian Road Congress (IRC) to be held in state capital Lucknow from October 8 to 11 will see over 1,500 delegates from India and abroad participate in discussions on the use of technology in construction of roads and bridges.

Uttar Pradesh is hosting the event for the fifth time and the Public Works Department is the nodal department for making all arrangements.

While Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will be the chief guest at the inauguration ceremony, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will preside over the event. Union Minister of State General (Retd.) VK Singh will also be attending the event.

About 200 delegates from UP will also participate in the event.

After the convention, the participants will also be enlightened about the spiritual and cultural heritage of Uttar Pradesh through places like Ayodhya, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Mathura, and Vrindavan, among others.

The development of infrastructure and network of roads has been playing a significant role in meeting the target of turning the state into a 1 trillion-dollar economy as envisioned by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

There will be about 19 technical sessions in all, focusing on fields like road construction technologies and infrastructure which will be of great benefit to UP.

This is the fifth session of IRC in Uttar Pradesh. The first session was held in Delhi in December 1934. UP previously hosted it in the years 1937, 1985, 1995 and 2011.

During the sessions, presentations will be made on numerous subjects by technical experts from the country and abroad, engineers of the Centre and state, road and bridge-related institutions, scientists and consultants.

Moreover, 180 stalls have been set up for a technical exhibition, in which information related to equipment, machinery, materials and new technology will be on display from various companies engaged in road construction. Along with this, through One District, One Product (ODOP) stalls, the visitors will also be made aware of the skills of the local artisans and craftsmen of the state. The ‘Hariharpur Gharana’ will also present a cultural evening.

Chairman of the country's prestigious industrial group Tata Sons, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, paid a courtesy call on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and showed interest in the company making investments in Uttar Pradesh.

Sources said that the two had a long discussion on the possibilities of investment in various sectors and all-round development of Uttar Pradesh.

“Impressed with the improved investment policy of Uttar Pradesh and the ease of doing business, Tata Sons may soon invest in Uttar Pradesh. The company has expressed its desire to register in the Global Investors’ Summit,” a government spokesman said.

The Tata Group has a strong presence in different sectors including hospitality, information technology (IT) and electronics, defence, automobile and aviation.

Two policemen, including a sub-inspector, were shunted out after they allegedly assaulted a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader inside a police station in Mau.

The action was taken after local ruling party leaders staged a demonstration demanding stern action against those involved in the brutal attack on the party leaders.

Reports said that Saurabh Gupta, a leading gold trader of Mau and senior leader of the BJP, was picked up by the cops of Madhuban police station earlier this week. According to the divisional vice-president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, Gupta had some dispute with the cops over some issue after which he was taken to the police station.

The BJYM leader claimed that later, in the presence of the station house officer of Madhuban police station, a police sub-inspector along with a constable brutally assaulted Gupta with shoe and belts. The BJYM leader claimed that the cops kept assaulting Gupta for more than 90 minutes after detaining him at the police station and threatened him with dire consequences saying that they knew how to deal with the BJP leaders.

Interestingly, another party leader, Pintu Pandey, was also assaulted by the cops when he went to help Gupta.

BJP district president Praveen Gupta said that a demand had been made from the administration to immediately suspend the policemen involved in this incident and conduct a high-level inquiry. The party also staged a demonstration and met senior officers with their demand on Thursday after which senior officials ordered a probe into the incident.

Additional Superintendent of Police Tribhuvan Nath Tripathi said that a case of beating two youths named Saurabh Gupta and Pintu Pandey had come to the fore in Madhuban police station area and a sub-inspector related to Madhuban police station and a police constable were removed and attached with the reserve police lines. He claimed that further action would be taken on the basis of the outcome of the probe.

Newly-appointed president of Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee, Brijlal Khabri, will assume office at the party state headquarters here on Saturday afternoon.

Giving this information here on Friday evening, UPCC spokesperson Sanjay Singh said that along with Khabri, all regional presidents of the party,  Naseemuddin. Siddiqui, Ajay Rai, Virendra Choudhary, Nakul Dubey, Anil Yadav and Yogesh Dixit, will also take their respective charges.

The spokesperson further said that preparations were at its peak at the UP Congress headquarters for this occasion. He claimed that the preparations were made under the leadership of chief organiser of Seva Dal, Pramod Pandey.

He said that all Congressmen from UP Youth Congress, Mahila Congress, National Students Union of India, along with other Congress frontal organisation officials were also making preparations to welcome the new UP Congress president. He said Brijlal Khabri would reach Lucknow from Jalaun by road while others would join him at the UPCC headquarters.

After assuming office, all the leaders would visit the GPO where they would garland the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr BR Ambedkar.

Another 19-year-old girl was allegedly abducted, held hostage and gang-raped in Mahoba.

She was later found lying in an unconscious state by the family members who shifted her to hospital and informed the police about the incident.

Later the local police registered a case in this regard and launched a hunt for the rapists.

According to the family members of the victim, the girl went to purchase household articles from the local market on Thursday but did not return home till the late evening. Her brother, who went for her search, claimed that as he reached near the water tank built outside the village, a local villager, identified as Lalu Verma, started running after seeing him. This made him suspicious and after a while he saw his sister's slippers lying on the ground. When he went further he was shocked to see his sister lying in an unconscious state.

The victim's mother, aunt and other people of the village also reached the spot after her brother raised an alarm.

The girl was taken to a nearby hospital where after regaining her senses, she unfolded her trauma before the family members. She revealed that Lalu Verma and two others forcibly pulled her to the place, held her hostage and raped her turn by turn.

The victim's brother lodged a report with the local police station and demanded strict action against the accused.

Surprisingly, the family alleged that the local police initially refused to register a case and told them that it would only bring embarrassment for the family so they better return home and forget the incident.

Later the local police officers said that they had received a complaint of gang-rape and a case was registered and the accused would be arrested soon. They also claimed that the victim was sent for medical examination.

Two army personnel were killed and one another was critically injured after a tank shell suddenly exploded during practice at Babina Cantonment Field Firing Range in Jhansi on Thursday evening.

The training centre comes under the Southern Command.

The incident was probed by the army personnel and the bodies were sent for autopsy.

Reports said that the soldiers of a unit of 55 Armed Regiment were engaged in a war exercise at Babina Cantonment Field Firing Range in Babina, Jhansi on Thursday night. During the exercise, two soldiers were killed due to the explosion of a tank shell, while the condition of one was critical.

Subedar Sumer Singh Bagaria of Rajasthan and Sukanta Mandal of West Bengal died in the mishap while lance naik Pradeep Yadav of Sant Kabir Nagar was critically injured and admitted to the Military Hospital for treatment.

According to sources, the accident happened during night firing exercise at the Babina firing range on Thursday night. During firing, a bullet struck the barrel of a T-90 tank, setting it on fire. Due to the fire in the tank, the shell exploded with a bang and two soldiers were killed on the spot.