The Uttar Pradesh government will launch 12 welfare schemes worth Rs 3,987 crore during a mega rally to mark the first death anniversary of BSP founder Kanshiram, which falls on October 9, 2007. The state government has also decided to declare March 15, 2008 as a public holiday under the ‘Negotiable Instruments Act’. T his will take the total tally of holidays in memory of different religious leaders and seers in the state to 33.
A Rs 300-crore project for a 500-bed multi-specialty hospital, a technical institute on the pattern of IIT and an international convention centre are among the welfare schemes on the anvil of the government, principal secretary to the chief minister Shailesh Krishna told reporters on Monday.
He said a ‘smarak sthal’ will also be constructed over an area of 60 acres at a cost of Rs 253 crore and an 18-ft high statue of Mayawati will be installed alongside Kanshiram.
He said a government medical college would be built at Saharanpur at a cost of Rs 300 crore while the UP Estates Department will invest Rs 12 crore on ‘vishramsthal’ (resthouse) in front of Mayawati’s Mall Avenue residence in the state capital. Another Rs 15 crore would be spent to convert the BSP office in a museum.
The technical education department will establish an i of technology in Lucknow on the lines of the IITs at a cost of Rs 500 crore.
Krishna said it was also decided to provide houses to the poor in Manyawar Shri Kanshiramji Nagar at 10% of the cost while a Rs 200-crore potable water and sewer scheme for 31 cities had also been approved.