Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday inaugurated and laid foundation stones of eight projects worth around Rs 7,600 crore in Chhattisgarh capital Raipur.

During an event held at the Science College ground here, PM Modi also virtually flagged off a new train between Antagarh in Kanker district of the state and Raipur. He kickstarted the distribution of cards of the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme to beneficiaries in the state. Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh are due by the end of this year.

Speaking on the occasion, PM Modi said these new projects will open up ample employment opportunities for the people of the state and ease their lives. The projects will start a new journey of facilities and development in tribal-dominated areas, he said. "In the last 9 years, the Centre sanctioned National Highway projects of 3,500 km length in Chhattisgarh, of which projects of 3,000 km length have been completed," he said.

"We have been developing infrastructure in the areas which have been lagging in the race of development," the prime minister added. Another benefit of infrastructure which is seldom discussed is that it is related to injustice, he said.

"The Centre has been providing modern facilities to those who have been facing injustice and lack of facilities for the last several decades," the prime minister said. At the event, the PM dedicated to the nation four-laning of the 33-km-long Raipur-Kodebod section of the National Highway 30, the 53-km-long four-lane Bilaspur-Pathrapali stretch of NH-130.

 He laid the foundation stone for construction of three sections (Jhanki-Sargi (43 km), Sargi –Basanwahi (57 km) and Basanwahi-Marangpuri (25 km)) as a part of the six-lane Raipur-Visakhapatnam economic corridor NH-130 CD. He also dedicated to the nation the doubling of the 103-km-long Raipur-Khariar Road Rail Line, built at a cost of Rs 750 crore, a 17-km-long new railway line connecting Keoti-Antagarh, and a bottling plant of the Indian Oil Corporation with a capacity of 60,000 metric ton per annum in Korba constructed at a cost of over Rs 130 crore.