JOIN USKanpur's government departments asked to mobilise 75,000 people for PM's rally
The administration in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur district has instructed government departments to garner around 75,000 beneficiaries of central schemes for a proposed address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the inauguration of the Metro Rail project in Kanpur on Tuesday.
The order was issued in a communique sent to the medical and health, food and civil supplies, horticulture, social welfare, labour, rural development and other departments.
They have also been asked to make arrangements for their transportation, food and lodging. According to sources, more than 2,000 UP Roadways and private buses would be deployed to ferry these people to the venue of the meeting.
The communique also instructed for the presence of anganwadi, ASHA and panchayat workers, among others, at the meeting.
Earlier, the district administration in Prayagraj had directed the 'shiksha mitras' (temporary primary teachers) and employees of various government departments to attend the meeting of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday.
There were reports that in the past also, government buses had ferried crowds to the Modi's addresses in different parts of the state.
Opposition parties have sharply criticised the BJP for what they allege is a misuse of government machinery for party-sponsored rallies. The Samajwadi Party (SP) had accused the BJP of "misusing" government machinery for ferrying crowds to the recent rally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Prayagraj and had written to the Election Commission (EC) to take note of the same and ensure "free and fair elections" in Uttar Pradesh.
''The state government, with the help of the RTO, deployed hundreds of government and private buses to ferry the people to the venue of the prime minister's meeting at Prayagraj... the chief minister of the state has been misusing the government machinery and public money for the rallies of the prime minister,'' SP State President Naresh Uttam had said in the letter.
He demanded that the EC give strict directions to the state government not to use public money and resources to ensure free and fair elections in the state.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav had said that the crowds at the Modi rallies in the state had been brought from different places in the state using government resources. ''I wonder if BJP has held any real public meeting so far,'' he had said.
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