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Close on the heels of Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra taking up the assault on members of Nishad community in Prayagraj and also sending financial relief through party state president Ajay Kumar Lallu, the state government on Saturday also took the matter seriously.
The government assured the Nishad community that their grievances had been taken into account in right earnest and a magisterial inquiry had been ordered into the Baswar village incident in which there was a scuffle between police and Nishad community on February 5 last.
Taking cognisance of the incident, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday sent cabinet minister and spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi to Baswar village and asked them to resolve the problems of the Nishad community.
Addressing the members of the community, Sidharth Nath Singh, on behalf of UP government, announced that the magisterial inquiry would be conducted in ten days and in the meantime, the policemen alleged to be involved in roughing up the aggrieved persons, should be sent to the lines.
He said that the boats which were damaged in the scuffle were already being repaired and strict directions in this regard had been issued to the district administration.
"Also, the process to withdraw the cases registered against the community members will start straightaway and sent to the government for approval," the UP minister said. He also said that the list of mining mafia would also be prepared to take action against them.
Coming down on the narrow mindset of the Congress, Singh said Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had visited the village but instead of going deep into the problems, the Congress unnecessarily flared up the issue.
"'The Nishad community has to suffer a lot because of National Green Tribunal (NGT)  law into the whole scenario but let me tell you that the NGT law was implemented by the Congress itself while the present government is opposing it,'' Singh pointed out.
He said the government had already been taking many steps for the betterment of the community. "Due to such efforts, fishery production in the state was at a record high of 6.9 lakh metric ton during 2019-20," he said.
He said the government had set a target of fish seed production/distribution of 300 crore during the current financial year 2021-22. Furthermore, in order to augment fishery production, the state government would also give ponds of gram panchayat on lease for ten years.
"There was an allocation of Rs 243 crore for Centre's PM Matsya Sampada Yojana while there is a provision to cover two lakh fishermen with free insurance scheme during 2021-22," he stated.