Yogi opens ₹495 crore Gordhoiya drain, says Gorakhpur is free of 'mosquitoes and mafia'

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday inaugurated the first phase of the Gordhoiya drain in Gorakhpur, a project built at a cost of more than ₹495 crore, and told the gathering that his home city had been rid of two old curses at once.

“We have also completed the first project to eliminate mosquitoes and mafia from Gorakhpur,” he said. “This is not merely the completion of a project.”

He also laid the foundation stone for the second phase, the Gorakhpur Sewerage Scheme Zone A-3, and a service road planned alongside the drain. Together these works will cost more than ₹880 crore.

Adityanath tied the drain to the city’s long struggle with disease. Before 2017, he said, poor sanitation, waterlogging and dirty drinking water fed encephalitis, malaria and dengue, and thousands of children fell ill and died young. He said houses that had stood along the drain for years were not touched while illegal encroachments were removed.

A sharp turn to politics

The Chief Minister then turned on the Samajwadi Party. “The Samajwadi Party (SP) is a party with a mafia-oriented mindset,” he said, accusing its earlier government of allowing land-grabbing. “Just as a dog’s tail can never be straightened, SP leaders can never mend their ways.”

On crimes against women and land-grabbing, he said his government had zero tolerance. “Anyone who commits such an offence will have to face either jail or hell.”

He pointed to four-lane roads, a fertiliser plant, AIIMS, BRD Medical College and four universities as proof of the city’s growth, and said young people who once left Gorakhpur for work now see outsiders coming in for jobs.

With Diwali close, he asked people to share the festival with poorer families, give sweets to sanitation workers and light lamps at temples and martyrs’ memorials.