The Samajwadi Party on April 25 said it will implement an urban employment guarantee scheme in Uttar Pradesh on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme if it wins the upcoming civic polls.
The urban local body polls will be held in two phases — on May 4 and 11. The counting of votes will be taken up on May 13.
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The main Opposition party also promised to set up Samajwadi canteens and grocery stores, and yoga centres across the State, make Gaushalas self-sufficient, and probe the house tax assessment "scam".
The appeal, which was signed by party chief Akhilesh Yadav, accused the ruling BJP of promoting corruption in the urban bodies.
“Though BJP has been in control of most of the local bodies for a long time, the development work has stopped and people are suffering due to corruption,” Mr. Yadav said.
“The ‘jumla’ of smart cities was tossed around a lot by the BJP, but the reality is exactly the opposite. In the name of cleanliness, only scams are happening,” the SP chief said.
“Instead of clean drinking water, dirty water is being given, and waterlogging, piles of filth, and encroachment in the entire state are seen,” he said.
“The scam in the assessment of house tax and water tax is at its peak and the SP will probe it if we win the local body polls,” he said.
Mr. Yadav also promised to provide an urban employment guarantee on the lines of MNREGS and said that the SP will give 'Nagar Bharti Samman' to those who do good work in their areas at the city level.
"Samajwadi canteens and grocery stores will be set up. Apart from this, the stalled regularisation of leasehold properties will be started again. After SP's victory in the civic body elections, yoga centres would be opened in parks, new community centres would be built and gaushalas would be made self-sufficient. A special initiative would be taken for the health protection of women," it said.
During the tenure of the SP, development projects such as Gomti Riverfront, Janeshwar Mishra and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Park, and Ekana Stadium were undertaken for the beautification of the State capital.
"But the BJP is busy in relabelling the work done by the SP government and presenting it as its own," Mr. Yadav said while appealing to the voters to vote against the BJP's "anti-development policies".
