Yogi Adityanath hails UP’s transformation to 'Utsav Pradesh'

UP CM Yogi Adityanath during the inauguration of an 11-storey barrack tower and a 30-bed hospital at the 26th Battalion PAC campus in Gorakhpur.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath declared on Thursday that the state, once synonymous with riots and lawlessness, has undergone a dramatic transformation to become a national benchmark for policing and public order.

Speaking at the inauguration of an 11-storey barrack tower and a 30-bed hospital at the 26th Battalion PAC campus in Gorakhpur, the CM asserted that UP has left behind its "dark past" of communal violence and mafia rule and has reinvented itself as “Utsav Pradesh”, TOI reported.

"No outsider can mock or question UP's law and order anymore," he said, as reported by TOI. “Eight years ago, Uttar Pradesh was known as a riot-prone state. Youths from UP were not even given accommodation outside the state due to the state's notorious image. Today, the same youth are respected everywhere.”

जनपद गोरखपुर में 26वीं वाहिनी पी.ए.सी. के जवानों हेतु नवनिर्मित बैरक टॉवर एवं चिकित्सा केंद्र का आज लोकार्पण किया। पूर्ण विश्वास है कि आप सभी नवचयनित जवान नए उत्तर प्रदेश को 'सर्वोत्तम प्रदेश' बनाने की दिशा में किए जा रहे प्रयासों को प्रभावी ढंग से आगे बढ़ाने में पूरी… pic.twitter.com/xqVF9yYBru

— Yogi Adityanath (@myogiadityanath) July 24, 2025

The CM credited the shift to rigorous governance reforms and large-scale police recruitment. He contrasted the current scenario with pre-2017 UP, where chronic vacancies, corruption in hiring and crumbling infrastructure left the force ill-equipped. “In those days, lakhs of police posts remained vacant. Frequent irregularities, dishonesty and corruption led to court-imposed stays, leaving young aspirants disillusioned and directionless,” he remarked, as cited by TOI.

Under his administration, over 2.16 lakh personnel were hired transparently, including a record 60,244 recruits in a single drive - claimed to be the world’s largest. Training capacity, once limited to 3,000 recruits at a time, has now expanded to 112 centres handling 60,000 trainees.

Yogi highlighted infrastructure upgrades, noting that police barracks are now the tallest buildings in several districts. ADG (PAC) Ramkrishna Swarnkar added that multi-storey barracks are being constructed across PAC units, alongside a first-ever Women’s Battalion with facilities coming up in Gorakhpur, Lucknow and Budaun.

The CM urged recruits to embrace modern policing, stressing training in cybercrime, digital arrests and women’s safety under Mission Shakti. He also flagged road safety, citing 22,000 annual fatalities and called for awareness drives in schools, as per TOI. Gorakhpur MP Ravi Kishan praised the turnaround, stating UP’s law and order gains were now acknowledged "not just across India, but internationally."