UP elections: Earlier governments ignored needs of Gorakhpur, says CM Yogi

December 7 will be etched in golden letters in the history of development of eastern Uttar Pradesh because Prime Minister Narendra Modi would gift projects worth almost ₹10,000 crore to the region, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday.

These projects include a fertilizer factory worth ₹8600 crore, an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) worth ₹1,010 crores and three pathological laboratories at BRD Medical College.

Modi had fulfilled the dreams of Purvanchal, Yogi said at a media briefing in Gorakhnath temple. The promised investment would be the largest ever in eastern Uttar Pradesh since Independence, and will propel the region on a path of growth and development.

The Prime Minister had laid the foundation stones of the fertilizer factory and AIIMS at Manbela ground on July 22, 2016, during a rally in the run up to the 2017 assembly elections.

The fertilizer factory that was once the pride of Purvanchal for producing urea was shut down following an accident, rendering many jobless, Yogi said. It always seemed impossible to restart this unit, but Modi made it possible by first laying its foundation and then inaugurating it, the chief minister said.

“Whenever we demanded restoration of the closed fertilizer factory, we merely got assurances from the previous government. But Modiji realised that the fertilizer factory was necessary for prosperity of the region,” Yogi said.

The fertilizer factory, to be built on an area of 600 acres with a capacity to manufacture 12 lakh metric tonnes of neem coated urea, was being set up by Hindustan Urvarak and Rasayan Limited

Talking about the deaths of children due to encephalitis and recalling his effort as Gorakhpur MP to fight against the disease, Yogi said, “There was a time when flood and disease became the identity of Purvanchal. Over the decades, 40,000 to 50,000 children died of encephalitis, but the previous government remained insensitive towards the condition of the poor and helpless people. It was PM Modi who understood their pain, and gave AIIMS for treatment of such diseases.”

When the virus of encephalitis was first recognized in 1971 by the Institute of Virology in Pune, there were no labs in Gorakhpur and samples used to go to Pune for testing. “But now we have set up three highly advanced labs at the Regional Medical Centre, BRD Medical College,” he said.

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