Maya announces Rs 8,500 cr schemes on completing year as CM

LUCKNOW: Completing a year in office and apparently eyeing the Lok Sabha elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati today unveiled schemes of over Rs 8,500 crore for expectant BPL mothers and entrepreneurs while blaming the UPA for the plight of drought-hit Bundelkhand.

Returning from a whirlwind election tour in Karnataka, the BSP chief used the occasion to hit out at the opposition Samajwadi Party and her predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav.

She said bold decisions were taken by the BSP government to establish "the rule of law by the law and abolish jungle raj" through legislations like UP Control of Crime Act while SIT and STF teams formed to deal with crime and terrorism.

The SP meanwhile observed a "black day" and Yadav said he would meet the President to expose her "wheeling-dealings" and the Congress brought out a report card on 'Maya Raj' as a year of failure and dictatorship.

Laying the foundation of 29 schemes and announcing 12 others at a function, Mayawati flayed the Centre for denying special economic packages for Bundelkhand and Purvanchal regions and its silence on the proposal for an international airport in Gautambudh Nagar (Noida).

'Saubhagyawati Surakshit Matritva Yojna' will provide "safe and institutional delivery facilties" for women from below the poverty line (BPL) families while the first ever 'Nivesh Mitra Yojna' will cater to online application, payment and sanction of entrepreneurs.

The chief minister announced upgrading 278 government high schools to intermediate level and Rs 4,824 for students persuing a one-year correspondence course in Urdu journalism.