Hindustan Times | Cities transforming India’s economy: Puri

Feb 12,2023

Lucknow Union housing and urban development minister Hardeep Singh Puri said here on Sunday that the development and implementation of schemes in Uttar Pradesh had been accelerated significantly since Yogi Adityanath took over as chief minister in 2017.

Addressing the session on ‘Re-imagining Cities as Growth Centres for New Uttar Pradesh’ on the last day of the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors’ Summit, he recalled his old association with Lucknow and said: “I continue to visit the city every second or third month. The previous government had little interest in implementing the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, which was launched by the Central government in June 2015. Only 17,000 homes could be built under the programme in 17 months, in the largest state in the nation.”

After Yogi Adityanath became chief minister in 2017, over 17 lakh houses were constructed in the next 17 months, he said. These figures were enough to narrate the success story of Uttar Pradesh, which was at the first place today in implementing the schemes of the Centre, he added.

Praising the Uttar Pradesh CM, Puri said, “The way Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath is working, Uttar Pradesh is fast becoming the growth engine of the Indian economy. The world will soon see the revolutionary impact of this Global Investors’ Summit.”

He said that given the pace with which India was moving ahead to fulfill the Prime Minister’s vision, the country would become the world’s largest economy by 2040.

“Our cities are transforming our economy. The Metro service was started by respected Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ji. Currently, it ranks fifth in the world. Within the next several months, we will rank among the top three in the world, based on our current projects.”

During the session, Uttar Pradesh urban development minister AK Sharma said, “I have learned a lot from Hardeep Singh Puriji. His work regarding urban development is unprecedented.”

“When I was appointed a minister, I understood that cleanliness was central to a city’s growth. So, I launched a campaign to clean the city, which used to start at 5am,” he said.

Amrit Abhijat, principal secretary, urban development department, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Nitin Ramesh Gokarn, principal secretary, housing also presented their views during the discussion. Debasish Biswas from Deloitte Group, Rejit Mathews from Urban Development World Resources Institute, Pritam Mehra from CBRE India, Ashwinder Singh from Residential Bhartiya City, Gurmeet Singh Arora from Rajco Metal Industries and Vinay Kumar Singh, MD, NCRTC also shared their views.