In Surprise Visit, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Tough Review Of Akhilesh Yadav's Pet Project

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath caught officials off guard today with a surprise visit at the Gomti river front in Lucknow, a project initiated fondly by his predecessor Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. The 44-year-old Chief Minister, who is a saffron-robed monk, was unimpressed with the landscaped gardens, cycling track and fancy canopies that dot the riverfront, once dusty and overgrown with weed.

A meeting was held right then and officials were upbraided by the Chief Minister, who warned that he has zero tolerance for corruption, ordering a review of how money has been spent on the project so far. The Gomti waterfront project has been on for two years and has already cost the state over Rs 1,427 crore - from a budget of 1,500 crore - but only 60 per cent work has been completed, noted Yogi Adityanath, who has promised 18-hour workdays in his administration and is leading the way ever since he took oath eight days ago.
 It was more important, he said, to block sewers offloading effluents into the river than building a musical fountain, of which there was no sign anyway.

The fountain was billed as an important feature of the refurbished waterfront, launched by Akhilesh Yadav to channel water from the Sharda river into the Gomti and also redirect waste from sewers to a sewage treatment plant before the treated water could flow into Lucknow's main river.
 Yogi Adityanath suggested that the officials to link the Gomti project with the centre's massive 'Namami Gange' project to clean the Ganga river and initiate work to plug the drains first.

State departments, a senior government engineer PK Singh said, have promised to complete their portions of the work within a year. He also said that they would assess how to fund the rest of the project without tapping into state resources.