Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, today gifted 25 important projects worth Rs 16,835 crore to Jharkhand.
In the presence of Governor Ramesh Bais and Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Prime Minister dedicated 13 projects to the nation, including the development of Deoghar Airport, Deoghar AIIMS and Baba Dham, built at a cost of Rs 10,271.
At the same time, the PM laid the foundation of 12 projects including re-development of Ranchi railway station and elevated corridor from Kachari Chowk to Piska More in Ranchi. Rs 6,565 crores will be spent on these projects.
The PM said on the occasion that it was a pleasure to visit Baba Dham. “Today, I am getting the good fortune to accelerate the development of Jharkhand from here. These projects will give a new impetus to the development of eastern India including Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal. This will make life easier and many opportunities will be created in many other sectors including employment, self-employment business, health and tourism.
Modi said that today, Jharkhand is getting its second airport. This will lead to tremendous ease for devotees of Baba Baidyanath. In the context of making air travel affordable for the common man through the UDAN scheme, the PM noted that today the benefits of the efforts of the government are visible across the country. About 70 new locations have been added through airports, heliports and water aerodromes in the last 5-6 years under the UDAN scheme. Today, ordinary citizens are getting the facility of air travel on more than 400 new routes. More than 1 crore people have experienced very affordable air travel, many for the first time. He expressed happiness that the flight from Deoghar to Kolkata started today and flights for Ranchi, Delhi and Patna will start soon. Work is on for airports in Bokaro and Dumka, he said.
The PM said that the government is following the mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas.
New avenues of development, employment-self-employment are being discovered by investing in infrastructure. “We have laid emphasis on aspiration for development, focused on aspirational districts,” he said, underlining the benefits of these initiatives for Jharkhand.
He said most of the 18,000 villages which were electrified so long after independence are in inaccessible and remote areas. Government has worked in mission mode in the last 8 years to bring tap water, roads and gas connection, he said.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on the occasion that a plan has been prepared to increase air connectivity in Jharkhand. Jamshedpur, Dumka and Bokaro will also join the aerial map soon. Apart from this, rapid initiative is being taken to start air service on 14 new routes in the State.
The PM inaugurated the Deoghar-Kolkata-Deoghar flight by presenting flying flags to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of IndiGo Company, Rono Dutta and the Chief of Flight Operations, Ashu Mishra.
Earlier, Governor Ramesh Bais presented a Rudraksh garland and a book to the Prime Minister on the occasion. The Chief Minister honoured the Prime Minister by giving him a model form of Baba Vaidyanath Temple.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda, Union Minister of State for HRD. Annapurna Devi, State Ministers Badal and Hafizul Hasan, Godda MP Nishikant Dubey and MLA Narayan Das were present on the occasion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today termed “shortcut politics” as a challenge for the country, urging people to be cautious and avoid falling in trap of those who make false promises. Modi, who was in Deoghar (Jharkhand), addressing a rally at Deoghar college ground said, “It is easy to fetch votes through shortcuts, but shortcut politics can destroy the country. It is easy to get votes by making tempting promises, adopting shortcuts. But those who make such a shortcut will never build airports, highways, AIIMS and medical colleges and other infrastructural projects.”
Though Modi didn’t name any political parties, he was referring to political parties which have come to power riding on making such tempting announcements.