BJP government brought crimes down in UP: Adithyanath

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth claimed that his government was successful in bringing down crimes in the state and alleged that those in power before him made no police reforms but used the state police as a tool, PTI reported.

Adithyanath further claimed that the state has not reported any riots or terrorist activities for the last five years and has become a favourable state for investors.

He produced numbers on riots during the past Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) governments. In the BSP rule from 2007-12, there were 364 riots, and in the 2012-17 SP rule, there were 700, killing hundreds of people. He compared his government with SP's in 2016-17 and said, citing National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, that dacoity cases came down by 58 per cent, loots by 64 per cent, murders by 23 per cent, Kidnappings by 53 per cent, dowry killings by eight and rapes by 43 per cent. He claimed that 155 criminals were killed in encounters while 3,638 got injured in raids and 48,038 and 694 individuals under the Gangster Act and National Security Act, respectively. Further, illegal properties worth ₹ 2,046 crores were seized or demolished, Adithyanath said. In his police force, 13 got killed and 1,236 wounded, he added.

Since 2017, the state has been in peace, while the government was building an Anti-Terrorism Squad Centre at sensitive places. His government also brought the anti-conversion law and the Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property law.

He said that when previous rulers did not hold police recruitments, his government recruited 1.5 lakh candidates transparently and promoted them. The police force, stations, police lines etc., were modernized, and women personnel in the department tripled, he claimed.

As the state's image changed with firm law and order conditions, investment proposals to the tune of 4.68 lakh crore were signed in its first investment summit, while Rs 3 lakh crores worth projects were executed. Further, despite the pandemic induced slowdown, UP received investment proposals worth more than Rs 66,000 core, Adithyanat claimed.