'How can Mughals be our heroes': Yogi renames upcoming Agra museum

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday decided to name the upcoming 'Mughal Museum' in Agra after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, asking 'how can Mughals be our heroes'.

Chairing a review meeting of Agra division, the chief minister made it clear that his government 'always nurtured nationalist ideology and anything which smacks of subservient mentality will be done away with', the UP government said in a statement.

"How can Mughals be our heroes?" the chief minister asked, adding the very name of Maratha warrior Shivaji will invoke a 'feeling of nationalism and self-esteem'.

Chief Minister Yogi also directed officials to complete the remaining work of Agra Smart City Project at the earliest, saying this project is among his government's priorities and should be taken up with the utmost urgency.

Expressing his satisfaction over Agra achieving the second rank among smart cities in the country and the first among those in UP in a recent survey, the CM also asked officials to expedite the Agra metro and airport projects.

"No project should suffer for the want of money," he told officials, adding he would personally speak to the Centre if any requirement of money arises.

He said the AMRUT and JNNURM schemes too should be given impetus.

Apprising the chief minister of the progress in made in Agra Smart City project, officials told him that out of a total 19 tasks under the project, four have been completed while 15 are in progress.

A time-line for every work has been prepared and all these works will be completed by August 2021, the officials told the CM.

During the review of the progress of the projects and mega developmental tasks of Agra division comprising Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri and Mathura districts, Yogi also interacted with public representatives through video conferencing.

Yogi assured Mathura MP Hema Malini of fulfilling her demands for building a sports stadium and a central School in Mathura besides repairing roads and beginning the operation of Chhata sugar mill.

He also received feedback from other lawmakers and officials about the development work in the division.

His attention was drawn towards the drinking water problem in the region to which he responded positively and immediately asked officials to prepare a proposal by consulting public representatives and the concerned agencies.

At present, there are a total of 22 ongoing projects worth over Rs 50 crore each.

Out of these 11 projects are in Agra, five in Firozabad, four in Mathura and two in Mainpuri, the government's official statement said.

The glass industry of Firozabad has immense potential in terms of job creation, said Yogi, adding that 98 percent of the work on the ambitious sewerage project of Firozabad has been completed.

The chief minister reiterated that the delay in the developmental projects will not be tolerated and the work should be done on a fixed time-line while observing all the quality norms.

He said the fund meant for development should not be used elsewhere otherwise stringent action will be taken including the seizure of the properties of the guilty.

He said the utilisation certificate should be made available at the earliest so that subsequent funds may be released.

The chief minister noted that the districts of Agra division have done well in contact tracing and lauded officials in reducing the COVID death rate in Agra.