Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday expressed his shock and dismay over the poor growth of information technology under his predecessor Mayawati.
Delivering the keynote address at the afternoon session of a 'Development Conclave' organised by the
Hindustan Times group in Lucknow, Akhilesh said, "When I walked into the chief minister's office for the first time I was quite shocked not to find a single computer there."
"Can you imagine how in today's modern system of governance the top office can function without a computer" he asked.
The 38- year-old Sydney University environment engineering graduate said, "We hope to develop a full scale IT system to improve the quality of governance in the state for which I have already issued necessary directives."
As far as his own office was concerned, Akhilesh hoped it to be equipped with the necessary gizmos over the next two weeks.
While expressing deep concern over the multiple ills that he had inherited from the previous Bahujan Samaj Party regime, he sought to look at the positive side. "Despite the odds and the pitfalls, UP still has tremendous potential. I am aware of the big challenge that lies before us and will leave no stone unturned to do our best to turn this state around," he assured.
Terming the shortage of power as the biggest hurdle in industrial growth, he said, "We are giving the top priority to the power sector because no development can be achieved without availability of power."
He lamented, "Nothing concrete was done to augment power generation during the previous regime; only land was allotted to some entrepreneurs but not