Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh has emerged as the first state in the country with regards to the construction of 8,462 Amrit Sarovars (lakes).
This is a part of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious Mission Amrit Sarovar, aimed at conserving water for the future.
Madhya Pradesh is ranked second, Jammu and Kashmir third, Rajasthan fourth and Tamil Nadu fifth in the mission implementation, according to a state government statement.
Within Uttar Pradesh, Lakhimpur Kheri has secured the first position by constructing 256 Amrit Sarovars, while Gorakhpur and Pratapgarh have got second and third positions, with 244 and 231 lakes, respectively.
Director of rural development department G S Priyadarshi said that on the instructions of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, 15,497 Amrit Sarovars were identified in different village panchayats of which 8,462 have already been developed, which is almost twice the total number of Amrit Sarovars developed collectively in Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
Uttar Pradesh is the only state in the country where the development work of Amrit Sarovars, is going on a war footing. In all 1.20 lakh Amrit Sarovars will be developed in the state, which is the maximum in the country.
In Lakhimpur Kheri, work on 256 Amrit Sarovars out of 315 has been completed whereas construction of 25 is underway.
Similarly, the construction of 244 out of 312 Amrit Sarovars has been completed in Gorakhpur while work is going on 18.
Moreover, the construction of 231 lakes out of 282 has been completed in Pratapgarh and work is underway on the rest. Priyadarshi said that in the first phase of the mission, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a target was set to develop 75 Amrit Sarovars in 75 districts of the state, which was completed ahead of schedule.
The Yogi Government also seeks to develop at least two Amrit Sarovars in 58 gram panchayats (approximately 1.20 lakh) in the second phase.
The government has developed 7,500 Amrit Sarovars under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. —IANS