Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that Uttar Pradesh has no room for illegal activities and that anti-social elements that terrorised the public in the past, “today wet their pants when court sentences them”.

Addressing a gathering after performing Bhoomi Poojan and laying the foundation stone of M/s Varun Beverages, a franchisee of multinational company PepsiCo, to be built at the cost of Rs 1071 crore at the industrial corridor being built near Gorakhpur Link Expressway in Sector 27 of Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA), CM Yogi said that the security of investors and their capital is guaranteed in the state today. He added that everyone’s safety is the responsibility of the government and it is the government’s resolve to bring prosperity in the lives of the citizens.

The Chief Minister said that six years ago goons and mafia used to openly threaten businessmen and kidnap them and the state was known for riots and anarchy. But today, all such elements have been silenced. “This year, when riots were taking place in some states of the country during Ram Navami celebrations, there was absolute peace in Uttar Pradesh. Thirty-three lakh people visited Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Shri Ram, and more than 1,000 processions were taken out on the occasion, but no untoward incident took place. Instead, Hindus and Muslims showered flowers on the processions”, he remarked.

According to the Chief Minister on April 6, on the occasion of Hanumat Janmotsava, more than 500 processions were taken out peacefully in the state. The CM said that in UP, bombs are no longer hurled at processions during religious festivals, and it has been replaced by showering of flowers.

CM Yogi said that 25 crore people of Uttar Pradesh today believe in the double engine government which promotes development, investment and employment. He added that it is because of this belief that Uttar Pradesh has received investment proposals worth Rs 35 lakh crore in the Global Investors Summit, pointing out that the Chief Minister’s Office itself monitors all the online facilities and incentives for the investors.

The Chief Minister said that Uttar Pradesh today boasts of excellent connectivity of all kinds. “Purvanchal and Bundelkhand Expressway have opened while work is underway on Ganga Expressway. By the time this plant is ready, the Gorakhpur Link Expressway will also be completed. Four-lane connectivity has been provided till Nepal, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Till 2017 only two airports were fully functional and two partially functional in the state and today nine airports are functional whereas work is underway on 12 airports. UP will soon be a state with five international airports.

Work on Metro and Ropeway is going on a war footing”, CM Yogi remarked.
He said that due to excellent connectivity from Gorakhpur, the products of Varun Beverages would reach Lucknow in three hours and Varanasi in two hours. The Chief Minister said that Gorakhpur has excellent rail connectivity while waterway facility is available from Varanasi, adding that it will products of the district reach every corner of the country and the world.

CM Yogi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intention is to increase the income of farmers manifold and by supplying fruits like mango, guava, litchi and milk to the plant of Varun Beverages, farmers and livestock farmers will be able to multiply their earning. According to him, the plant in Gorakhpur will provide employment to 1500 youths whereas 10,000 villagers will be linked to an additional source of income.

“When three more plants of Varun Beverages will be set up in UP, 6000 youths will get employment and 50,000 villagers will get additional income,” he said.

The Chief Minister appealed to all industrial organizations, including Varun Beverages, to take the initiative ahead of time to create skilled manpower.

He said, “There are four universities, hundreds of colleges, engineering colleges, polytechnics and ITIs in Gorakhpur. Youths should be trained as per the requirement of the industry so that there is no shortage of skilled manpower at the time of starting the industry. The youth will also not have to go outside for employment.”

The Chief Minister said that the Gorakhpur fertilizer factory dedicated to skilled manpower a year ago by PM Modi is producing at 110 per cent capacity.

He said that to make the youth technically competent, the government is providing tablet-smart phones to two crore youth. The government is also giving half the honorarium for the apprenticeship.

On this occasion, State’s Industrial Development Minister Nand Gopal Gupta ‘Nandi’ said that today Purvanchal is witnessing rapid industrial development due to the vision of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He said that the previous SP-BSP governments never thought of industrial development and employment.

MP Ravikishan Shukla said that CM Yogi is turning dreams into reality for the prosperity of the state and the happiness of the citizens.

In the welcome address, Ravikant Jaipuria, Chairman, M/s Varun Beverages said that Varun Beverages operates 36 plants in the country out which seven are in UP and the plant being set up in Gorakhpur will be the 8th. He told that production will also start in this super mega project with advanced technology from this year itself. Jaipuria said that milk-based products like milk powder, butter, desi ghee would also be produced by processing 3 lakh liters of milk per day in the plant. He also informed that after Gorakhpur, plants will be set up in Prayagraj, Chitrakoot and Amethi as well.

On this occasion, State Vice President of BJP and MLC Dr Dharmendra Singh, MLAs Pradeep Shukla, Vipin Singh, Advisor to Chief Minister Avnish Awasthi, Industrial and Infrastructure Development Commissioner Manoj Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of Medanta Medicity Dr Naresh Trehan, District Magistrate Krishna Karunesh, GIDA’s Chief Executive Officer Pawan Agarwal etc. were prominently present.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also planted saplings on the proposed plant premises after performing Bhoomi Pujan amid chanting of Vedic hymns.