List of biggest achievements of Akhilesh Yadav as Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister

Akhilesh Yadav is a politician and the current president of Samajwadi Party. He is the son of ex-Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, who serves as the party’s present Chairman. He was the 20th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and assumed office on 15th March 2012. At age 38, he was the youngest person to have held the office at the time of his election. His first significant foray into politics began in 2000, with him being elected as a Member of Lok Sabha for the Kannauj constituency. Through his 5 years as Chief Minister of UP, he led the Samajwadi Party to bringing various infrastructure and social development schemes in the state.

Here are a list of the biggest achievements of Akhilesh Yadav as the 20th Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

I. Agra-Lucknow Expressway

The Agra-Lucknow Expressway is a 6-lane expressway, expandable to 8 lanes. The project was developed by the state government of Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The project is a 302 kilometre tolled controlled-access highway or expressway, undertaken by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority. The expressway reduced the distance between the cities of Agra and Lucknow.

The Agra-Lucknow Expressway was completed and inaugurated by Akhilesh Yadav as CM on 21st November 2016. This project serves as the flagship model of development in the state, being the first project of its kind to be completed in the shortest span of time, between June 2014 and November 2016.

II. Lucknow Metro

Under Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, the state gave clearance for the construction of Lucknow Metro in June 2013, after the concept was first proposed by the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) to the government of Uttar Pradesh in September 2008.

Construction of Lucknow Metro began on 27th September 2014, with 8.3 kilometres between Transport Nagar and Charbagh Railway Station. It began commercial operations on 5th September 2017, making it the fastest built Metro in the country.

It is also the most expensive transport system in Uttar Pradesh with the total estimation for Phase-I (A – Red Line, B – Blue Line) amounting to Rs. 6,928 crores. It is also a 50:50 joint venture between the government of India and the state government of Uttar Pradesh.

III. Developing Power Sector

In December 2016, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav laid the foundation stones and inaugurated power projects worth Rs. 52,437 crores. The projects cover all three aspects of power generation, transmission and distribution.

The projects included three thermal power plants with a total capacity of 33,000 MegaWatts, to be constructed in the state.

The Jawaharpur Thermal Power Plant, a Greenfield project, would have a generation capacity of 1,320 MegaWatts. The project is being built at a cost of Rs.10,566 crores. Two other projects; the Obra C Power Project is at Rs. 10,416 crores and the Hardauganj Extension is at Rs. 574 crores.

The Jawaharpur and Obra C have been awarded to South Korea‘s Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction‘s Indian unit- Doosan Power Systems India (DPSI). The Hardauganj project has been awarded to Toshiba.

IV. Modernising Police Force

In October 2013, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister made several announcements in regards to modernising the Police Force in the state, emphasising on the need for equipping the police with modern techniques due to the changing nature of crime patterns. Lucknow, Ghaziabad and Allahabad were to receive state of the art control rooms, as part of the announcement.

Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav made the announcement on the occasion of ‘Smriti Diwas‘, while stressing that the priority of the state government was to strengthen its police force. The CM also announced that an increase of Rs.200 would be made for meal allowances, and Closed User Group (CUG) SIM cards would be given to all sub-inspectors.

V. 1090 Women Power Line

The 1090 women’s helpline was launched by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in 2012 as a means to take realtime action in making women feel safe, as well as promoting and empowering people in society to find a solution to the social ills facing women.

The helpline number is a one-state-one-number service that was set up to handle cases of sexual harassment. Women in Uttar Pradesh can access the helpline from anywhere in the state and lodge complaints against those who harass them. The complainant need not physically go to the police station to file an FIR, and the identity of the complainant is kept secret.

A special cadre of women constables were assigned to attend to calls and provide timely help to victims.

VI. Kamdhenu Yojana

The Kamdhenu Yojana is a dairy scheme introduced by the government of Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, with the aim of increasing the low availability of high yielding germ plasm animals in the state. Through this scheme, the government aimed at establishing 100 high yielding animal dairy units which would be acquired from outside Uttar Pradesh.

Through the Kamdhenu Yojana, more than 2,000 dairy farms of 100, 50 and 20 cattle numbers have been established across the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Through this scheme, Uttar Pradesh became the number one milk producing state in India.

VII. Kisan Avam Sarvhit Bima Yojana

The Kisan Avam Sarvhit Bima Yojana was launched by Akhilesh Yadav in 2016, which was a replacement to the ‘Krishak Bima Yojana‘ under which the revenue department covered land-holding farmers who had their names in the revenue records; in the event of death, they got up to Rs. 5 lakhs where the state government would pay the premium.

Under the new scheme, all landless farmer and other families with a annual income of less than Rs. 75,000 would also be covered.

VIII. Kisan Bazaars

The Akhilesh Yadav government, in 2016, set up Kisan Bazaars in cities across Uttar Pradesh, to provide an open and easy market for farmers to sell products and purchase equipments.

Kisan Bazaars act as a medium between buyers and farmers, where all goods are sold at valid rates by farmers. It provides a stable platform where farmers can easily sell their produce at good rates, which are collectively decided so no farmer gets affected as a result of fluctuations in prices.

IX. Lohiya Awas Yojana

In 2012, the UP government under Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav decided to the scrap the previous BSP government’s Mahamaya Awas Yojana and Mahamaya Sarvajan Awas Yojana, and launch a single housing scheme aimed at the rural poor named ‘Lohiya Awas Yojana‘.

Lohiya Awas Yojana, was a social welfare program aimed at providing housing for the rural poor in UP. Under the scheme, differences are made in schemes for the urban and rural poor, as a separate set of schemes are aimed at the urban poor.

This scheme was provided for candidates who had no residence for living. Homes were to be provided at free-of-cost by the state government.

The Mahamaya Awas Yojana was aimed at Dalits, while the Mahamaya Sarvajan Awas Yojana was meant for non-Dalits.

X. Samajwadi Swasthya Seva

Upon finishing 6 months in office as Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav launched the Samajwadi Swasthya Seva; a free-of-cost, 24/7 emergency ambulance service.

The toll-free number set for this service was 108; calling upon which, an ambulance would reach the patient within 20 minutes and she/he would be given medical aid before being shifted to a hospital.

Provisions were made for emergency medical relief being available to persons suffering from heart attacks, pregnancies, burns, trauma from accidents or assault, and those with infectious diseases; all of whom require immediate hospitalisation.

On 22nd August 2012, Akhilesh Yadav launched the Uttar Pradesh Ambulance Service, under which 200 vehicles were deployed in 75 districts.

XI. Shravan Yatra

In March 2015, Akhilesh Yadav launched the Samajwadi Shravan Yatra from Lucknow. According to the scheme, elderly and senior citizens would be enabled to undertake pilgrimages to Haridwar and Rishikesh, free-of-cost.

A special train carrying about 1,044 pilgrims was flagged off from Charbagh Railway Station by Vijay Kumar Mishra, the then Minister of State for religious Endowment.

The scheme takes inspiration from the devotion of Shravan Kumar who carried his blind parents on his shoulders for a pilgrimage.

Conclusions

Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party has been viewed as the propagator of dynastic politics in the state of Uttar Pradesh, with him being viewed as a product of nepotism. However, when he was Chief Minister of state, there was split in the family leading to a feud between him and his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, with the former being supported by his uncle Shivpal Yadav and the latter being supported by Mulayam Singh’s cousin, Amar Singh.

However, Akhilesh Yadav has largely been credited with bringing modernisation to the state of Uttar Pradesh, though his various schemes.