With eyes set on polls, PM Modi gifts projects worth Rs 28700 crore to Gujarat

Tribune News Service

Shubhadeep Choudhury                                                                                              

New Delhi, October 1

With eyes set on the coming Assembly polls in the state, projects worth a mammoth Rs 28,700 crore were gifted to Gujarat by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his two-day trip to the state that concluded on Friday.

The trip, which started with kicking-off various projects in Surat worth Rs 3400 crore, came to an end with the PM dedicating and laying the foundation stones of various projects worth Rs 7,200 crore at the temple town of Ambaji in Banaskatha district.

The Prime Minister dedicated 45,000 houses built under the PM Awas Yojana to the recipients and laid the foundation stone for construction of 15,000 more such houses in the area. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of Taranga Hill – Ambaji – Abu Road New Broad Gauge Line and the development of pilgrimage facilities at Ambaji temple under the PRASAD scheme.

The Prime Minister unveiled the 62-km-long New Palanpur-New Mahesana section of the Western Freight Dedicated Freight Corridor and the 13-km-long New Palanpur-New Chatodar section (Palanpur bypass line). The Prime Minister also dedicated various road projects, including the widening of Mitha-Tharad-Deesa road among others.

The Prime Minister revealed that the Taranga Hill–Ambaji–Abu Road Line was conceived in 1930 during British rule. Though the need for this was recognised about 100 years ago, unfortunately, the work was not taken up, he said. “Perhaps, Maa Amba wished it to be done by me. It is our good fortune that in the year of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, we are getting this opportunity to dedicate this at the feet of Amba Mata,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister said that his aim is to create so many attractions in the vicinity of the temple that people have to make a two-to-three-day programme to cover them. This will benefit the locals, he said.

Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister flagged off the Vande Bharat Express service between Gandhinagar and Mumbai. The train is expected to cover the distance between the two cities in about five and a half hours.

Modi also inaugurated the first phase of the Ahmedabad metro project built at a cost of Rs 12,900 crore. Speaking after the inauguration, he said the 32km-long track of the first phase of Ahmedabad metro inaugurated on Friday was the longest stretch of metro rolled out in one go anywhere in the country till date.

Besides Surat, the PM visited Bhavnagar also on Thursday and inaugurated and laid foundation stones of projects worth Rs 5,200 crore, including laying the foundation stones of world’s first CNG terminal and a brownfield port in the coastal city.

Assembly elections are slated to take place in Gujarat later this year.

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