Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan chaired a state cabinet meeting at village Mundla Dostar (Ujjaini) on Narmada-Kshipra confluence on Tuesday.
It was participated by Urban Administration and Development Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, Public Relations and Energy Minister Rajendra Shukla, Narottam Mishra, Kunwar Vijay Shah, Maya Singh and other Ministers, Chief Secretary, Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries and senior officers of various departments.
The Chief Minister said that this place has become a pilgrimage centre due to confluence of Maa Narmada and Kshipra. The place is giving a divine feeling and experience. This place will be declared a religious pilgrimage and developed as a religious tourism centre.
Chouhan said that he will perform formal worship here on February 25 before participating in inaugural ceremony at Kshipra riverbank at Ujjain. India’s former Deputy Prime Minister lal Krishna Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh will also come here. He informed that project’s foundation stone was also launched in the presence of lal Krishna Advani on November 29, 2012. The work with high quality has been completed within the time-limit. For this, the Chief Minister appreciated entire team of Narmada Valley Development Authority.
He further said that it was dream of people of Malwa to bring Narmada water to Malwa. The main concern was that water level in Malwa was depleting constantly. For fulfilling this dream of people, he had resolved to bring Narmada to Malwa on September 1, 2012 by releasing Narmada water in Kshipra through a kalash (pitcher). This resolve has been fulfilled today. Apart from irrigation, water level will also increase in Malwa region with Narmada water flowing in Kshipra River. He urged farmers to adopt drip and sprinkler irrigation methods to avoid wastage of water and take better crops.
Chouhan said that now the state government plans to bring Narmada water to Gambhir River. For this, Rs 2200 crore scheme has been chalked out. Water will be released after drawing it from Omkareshwar canal. There is also a scheme to release Narmada water in Parwati and Kali Sindh rivers later. Days are not far when Narmada will flow at a number of places in Malwa region.
The Chief Minister said that Indore city is being developed rapidly. Soon, the city will be developed as cargo hub. Fruits, vegetables etc. will be exported from here. Indore is also being developed as IT city.
Narayan Murthi will lay foundation stone of Infosys at Indore on February 24. After the cabinet meeting, members of the state cabinet also planted saplings on the premises.