Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday hailed the upcoming defence corridor in the state, saying once the cannons manufactured there roar, Pakistan will vanish from the world map on its own.
He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Kalinjar Mahotsava at Banda in the Bundelkhand region which has seven districts -- Chitrakut, Banda, Jhansi, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Mahoba, and Lalitpur -- of Uttar Pradesh.
He said the Bundelkhand Expressway has been built to connect the region with development. "Now, the travel time between Chitrakut and Delhi will come down to five-and-a-half hours."
In a statement issued in Lucknow, Mr Adityanath said, "An airport is coming up in Chitrakut. The defence corridor is being constructed, and when the cannons made there roar, Pakistan will vanish on its own (wahan ke bani topein jab garjengin to Pakistan apne aap gayab ho jaayegaa)."
The Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC) is an aspirational project that intends to reduce Indian Aerospace and Defence Sector's dependence on foreign suppliers.
It took off to an encouraging start with the announcement of investments worth over Rs 3,700 crores in defence production at a meet organised in Aligarh on August 11, 2018.
Six nodes --- Agra, Aligarh, Chitrakut, Jhansi, Kanpur, and Lucknow -- have been identified for developing the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC).
Mr Adityanath also said on the occasion that the mothers and sisters of this region had to travel five miles to gather fetch water in the past, but now every home "has access to clean drinking water because of the 'Har Ghar Nal, Har Ghar Jal Yojana'".
Taking aim at the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party, he said water could have reached homes sooner, but the 'parivardis' (dynasts) and 'jaativadis' (casteists) were unwilling to work towards this due to their mindset.
"Their family meant everything to them. They didn't care for Bundelkhand... . Bundelkhand will no longer have a water shortage; it will be like heaven on earth," Mr Adityanath said.
The chief minister said Bundelkhand will no longer lag behind in terms of development and investment proposals worth approximately Rs 4.5 lakh crore have been received for the region during the Global Investors Summit held in Lucknow.
"The youths won't need to move to other states for employment. For their crops, farmers will receive a good price," he said.
The chief minister listed several government initiatives and described how they benefit locals in the area.
"Bundelkhand is one of the top priorities of the double-engine government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. A meeting should be conducted with the administration and the tourism department, and the latter should get ready to operate hotels in the forts of Bundelkhand and explore opportunities for tourism growth," he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
