Terming India’s one of the biggest ports Kandla as ‘mini India’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday suggested the port authority to rename Kandla Port Trust as Deen Dayal Port Trust Kandla after the Jan Sangh founder Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay.
Addressing a gathering at the port town Kandla after dedicating around Rs 1,000 crore development projects, the Prime Minister said that developed ports were must for India’s recognition as a global economic power. Good ports were essential for the progress of the country he said adding once Kandla Port would commence commercial links with Chabahar Port of Iran, it would emerge as one of the most important ports in Asia for handling both dry as well as liquid cargo.
The new projects being undertaken at Kandla form part of the ambitious Sagar-
mala project by NDA Govern-
ments, encompassing 7,500-km coastline of India.
Speaking at the event, Union Shipping and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the Sagarmala Project envisaged development of 12 major and 20 minor and private ports along India’s coastline at an investment of Rs 6 lakh crore.
Implementation of 239 projects worth Rs 1.37 lakh crore is in progress, which included 40 projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore in Gujarat alone, Gadkari said adding that a smart city, at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore, is also proposed for Kandla and would help to create 10,000 direct and 40,000 indirect jobs.
While inaugurating a pumping station for Narmada water at Bhachau town of bordering Kutch district around 45 km from Kandla port, PM said that all Governments from Keshubhai Patel to current Vijay Rupani Governm-
ents had given utmost importance for water conservation and as result of it, the State was achieving new height in supplying water to parched areas like Kutch.
“People from other parts of the country cannot imagine how a big chunk of the State budget was being spent on water in Gujarat. Thousands of tankers ran continuously across the State carrying water. The State Government’s resolve to make water accessible have brought the water of River Narmada to arid Kutch,” he added.
Modi is on a two-day visit to poll bound Gujarat. This is his twelfth visit to his home-State after he was elevated from Gujarat Chief Minister to Prime Minister in May 2014. In the past three months, this is his third visit to Gujarat.
On Tuesday, Modi is scheduled to attend the opening session of the 52nd annual meeting of the African Development Bank in the State capital Gandhinagar.
The PM may also make an unscheduled visit to his mother Hiraba either on late Monday night or early Tuesday morning.