Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday directed officials to prepare a plan to establish a dedicated food street in every city in Uttar Pradesh where people can taste cuisines from across the country. The chief minister asked the culture and housing departments to coordinate with various developmental authorities to formulate the plan.
Speaking at a programme organised by the culture department here, the chief minister said a dedicated food street would introduce people to cuisines of different states and they would know what to look for when they travel to states like Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh.
Adityanath pointed out that India's diversity in terms of food, dress, language and culture is its specialty. "We have the tradition of Sangam since the ancient times. All the different cultures are the country's strength. "Therefore, we should also have dedicated food streets where people can get cuisines not only from different parts of the country, but also from different regions within states like Garhwal and Kumaon in Uttarakhand and Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Bundelkhandi and Braj in UP."
Referring to the recently held Kashi-Tamil Sangamam in Varanasi, the Chief Minister said the initiative aimed at bringing people of two diverse cultures together to help them know and understand each other better and unite them. "Twelve groups from Tamil Nadu were in Kashi for a month. The groups included students, teachers, religious leaders, artists, farmers and labourers. They visited Prayagraj and Ayodhya.
"This cultural exchange cleared the Tamils' misconceptions about Uttar Pradesh and north India which they had formed due to negative propaganda run by some vested interests. It has exposed those propagandists. Every Tamil who came to the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam was overwhelmed by the hospitality of the people of UP," he said.
Talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to mark 2023 as Millet Year, Adityanath said that the UNESCO has also recognised this initiative. The chief minister also stressed the need for taking to natural farming and avoid the use of chemicals and pesticides.
