Raipur / New Delhi, 07 July (HS). Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning laid the foundation stone and inaugurated various development projects in a public program in Raipur. During this, the Prime Minister linked infrastructure with development and said that backward areas have benefited the most from the development works done by his government in the last 9 years.
The Prime Minister said that infrastructure in India remained weak for decades, due to which development was delayed. Today India is developing more infrastructure in those areas which remained backward in the field of development.
Linking modern infrastructure with social justice, the Prime Minister said that today the Government of India is providing modern facilities to the people who have been facing injustice and inconvenience for centuries. He said that infrastructure provides ease of living to the people, ease of doing business, employment opportunities and faster development.
The Prime Minister said that today Chhattisgarh is connecting with the Economic Corridor. Raipur Dhanbad Economic Corridor and Raipur Visakhapatnam Economic Corridor are going to change the fate of this entire region. He said that these economic corridors are passing through aspirational districts. These districts were once considered backward and violence and anarchy prevailed here. Today, a new saga of development is being written in those districts under the command of the Government of India. He said that today Chhattisgarh has been gifted with projects worth more than Rs 7000 crore.
The Prime Minister said that in the last 9 years, Chhattisgarh did not have mobile connectivity in more than 20 percent villages and now it has come down to only 6 percent. Most of these are tribes and villages affected by Naxal violence. He said that the settlements of the poor, dalits, backward and tribals are being connected by roads and rail lines today. Patients, mothers and sisters living in remote areas are getting convenience in reaching the hospital today.
Earlier, giving a boost to infrastructure development, the Prime Minister inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of five National Highway projects worth about Rs 6,400 crore. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for three National Highway projects for the Chhattisgarh section of the 6-laning greenfield Raipur-Visakhapatnam corridor. The Prime Minister also dedicated to the nation the doubling of the 103-km Raipur-Khariar Road Rail Line, constructed at a cost of Rs 750 crore. The Prime Minister also dedicated to the nation the bottling plant of the Indian Oil Corporation with a capacity of 60,000 metric tonnes per annum at Korba built at a cost of over Rs 130 crore.
The Prime Minister said that the state of Chhattisgarh has greatly benefited from the amendment in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act. This has resulted in a big boost to mineral development and employment generation. Comparing his government with the previous government, he said that during the period 2010-2014, Chhattisgarh received an amount of Rs 1,300 crore as royalty payment. Whereas during the period 2015-16 to 2020-21 this amount was Rs 2,800 crore under the MMDR Act. It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a tour of four states between July 7-8.
