Gorakhpur, Nov 12 (IANS): Keeping up the tradition, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will celebrate Diwali with Vantangia tribals on Sunday.

Yogi Adityanath has been celebrating the festival with Vantagia since 2009, amidst the Kusmahi Jungle.

This year, the chief minister will celebrate the festival by gifting them development projects worth of Rs 153 for various gram panchayats of Gorakhpur district.

Ram Sulabh, a 70-year-old man of the Vantangia community, said they were unaware of the happiness of Diwali lights before 2009, when Yogi, as MP of Gorakhpur, started celebrating the festival with them.

Thanks to Yogi’s involvement, the condition of the residents of Jungle Tikonia has been improving constantly, he said.

As MP, he fought for their rights and secured their right to dwell in their native place by obtaining for them domicile certificates in 2010.

When he became the chief minister in 2017, he bestowed the status of revenue village on the Kusmahi Jungle villages, thereby making them entitled to all facilities provided by the government for all citizens.

He has provided the jungle villages with housing, roads, electricity, water, schools, and has integrated the residents with all the public welfare schemes.