E-Paper
Host of urban development projects, upgrade to med facilities in offing
To promote eco-tourism, the state allocated ₹2.5 crore for the setting up of Uttar Pradesh Eco-Tourism Board in Lucknow.
LUCKNOW Finance minister Suresh Khanna loosened purse strings on Wednesday to ensure an upgrade to the civic infrastructure and services in the urban centres of the state. In his Budget speech, Khanna made several announcements to develop infrastructure and promote tourism in Lucknow, Varanasi, and Prayagraj, among other districts.
To promote eco-tourism, the state allocated ₹2.5 crore for the setting up of Uttar Pradesh Eco-Tourism Board in Lucknow. Along with this, a night safari has been proposed at Kukrail in Lucknow. The minister also provisioned ₹5 crore for international and national-level mega events. Similarly, a ropeway service is proposed in Varanasi and a few other districts.
In a bid to upgrade the healthcare infrastructure, Khanna announced that a Liver Transplant Centre and an Advance Diabetic Center will soon be made functional. Meanwhile, a 558-bed Emergency Medicine and Renal Transplant Centre will be established at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences in Lucknow to strengthen the tertiary medical facility.
Besides, a centre for Diabetic Retinopathy would be established in KGMU Lucknow and in the government medical colleges in Meerut and Prayagraj. The minister added that the work to set up an Advanced Neuroscience Centre is also in progress at Lucknow’s Ram Manohar Lohia Institute. The facility is expected to become functional soon.
In good news for sports enthusiasts, an amount of ₹25 crore has been allocated for velodrome construction at Lucknow-based Shri Guru Govind Singh Sports College. The urban development department has also made a provision of ₹500 crore for development of urban roads. Lucknow is set to get the lion’s share of this allocation.
The Budget also makes a provision of ₹100 crore for the Akankshi Nagar Yojana, which aims to provide grants to upgrade infrastructure in order to develop the identified urban bodies of the state as aspirational urban bodies.
Also, a grant of ₹50 crore has been made for basic infrastructure facilities in religious and historically important urban bodies of the state. Again, Lucknow will be one of major beneficiaries of this. Major work of laying sewer lines in different parts of state capital is also proposed under the Amrut Scheme of urban development department.
