UP chief secretary orders state-wide district-level events on Vajpayee's birth anniversary

LUcknow, Uttar Pradesh Chief secretarial assistant S P Goyal has directed all departments, divisional commissioners and territory magistrates to organise a serial of educatee competitions and district-level programmes crosswise the state on December 25, to mark the birth anniversary of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the conclusion of his birth centenary year.Multiple schools that PTI spoke to said they were already having winter breaks. A government school teacher told PTI: "We have been called to school, but not the students."Goyal also said a main state-level function will be held on December 25 at Lok Bhawan in Lucknow in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, with live streaming of the event across all districts, according to the order, issued recently.District-level programmes are to be organised the same day in the presence of public representatives, during which winners of the competitions, which were to be held between December 18 and 22, will also be felicitated, it added.The chief secretary had ordered that essay and speech competitions around the good governance theme and solo poetry recitation contests based on Vajpayee's life and poetry be organised at the district level between December 18 and 22 for school and college students.District magistrates were instructed to identify a suitable university or college in each district for conducting the competitions and ensure "wide participation of students".Cash prizes ranging from ₹2,000 to ₹10,000 along with certificates will be awarded to first, second and third position holders in each category.In addition, the chief secretary has ordered a special cleanliness drive across urban and rural areas on December 25, to be carried out by urban local bodies and the Panchayati Raj Department. He has also asked departments to submit a brief report with photographs of centenary-year activities to the Higher Education Department by December 17.All officers concerned have been instructed to ensure strict compliance with the directions, the communication said.Goyal has further ordered that ₹20,000 be provided to each district for organising the events, while prize money will be released through the Directorate of Higher Education.Chief development officers have been designated as nodal officers at the district level to ensure smooth conduct of the programmes under the supervision of district magistrates.This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.