Akbarnagar Is Now 'Saumitra Van', Named After Lord Ram's Younger Brother Lakshman: Yogi Adityanath Tells UP Assembly

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesdya (30 July) criticised the Samajwadi Party while addressing the government's measures against illegal encroachment in Lucknow’s Akbarnagar.

Responding to SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra from Lucknow Central in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Adityanath highlighted the historical significance of Lucknow’s Gomti and Kukrail rivers.

He noted that Akbarnagar, set up in 1984, has mostly illegal constructions, which failed to withstand scrutiny in the high court and Supreme Court.

“We have rehabilitated those who were wrongly registered by showing fake documents. Now Akbarnagar is not a ‘nagar’, but it has become ‘Saumitra Van’," he said.

Adityanath said to give Lucknow its identity, it has been made ‘Saumitra Van’ in the name of Lord Ram’s younger brother Lakshman.

The SP MLA from Lucknow should be happy that the people of Lucknow have made him an MLA and the government is giving the UP capital a night safari, Adityanath said.

He told the MLA that the government is spending money while he is reaping the benefit, and asked Mehrotra to thank the government after getting such a “good scheme”.

“You should go and see whether Kukrail was a river or a drain. Today you will see a river there, not a drain," the Chief Minister said.

“The campaign for river rejuvenation is going on in the whole country. We do say that water is life, but will we be able to imagine life by destroying it?” he said.

Adityanath slammed the SP for simultaneously venerating the Gomti river as a “mother” while allowing it to become polluted.

“As the MLA of Lucknow, you should laud the government for the efforts being made for the rehabilitation of that river,” he said, news agency PTI reported.

In response to a question, the UP Chief Minister said, “Most of the land mafia who cheated the poor were people associated with the Samajwadi Party. We have summoned a full report on the intention of those who have put red marks in Indraprastha Nagar and Pant Nagar".

“If someone has done it with wrong intentions, then his accountability will also be fixed, but if it has been done only for marking as a precaution, then it is to alert people for the rehabilitation of the Kukrail river,” he said.

The demolition of illegal structures on the Kukrail riverbed in Akbarnagar was completed on 19 June.

Around 1,169 illegal residential and 100 commercial properties were demolished using heavy machinery like bulldozers.

The demolition to clear illegal encroachments on 24.5 acres of land began in December last year.

More than 1,320 illegal structures, including religious places of both Hindu and Muslim communities, were demolished.

Displaced families from Akbarnagar have been provided alternative housing under the PM Awas Yojna in other parts of Lucknow.

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