With an eye on next Parliament elections Congress president Sonia Gandhi showered several sops for her Parliament Constituency on Tuesday.
She not just laid the foundation stone of railway wheel factory but also went ahead and conducted `Bhomipujan’ of the much awaited All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)even when it was not on her schedule for the day. local MP from Rae Bareli also not attacked any Opposition Parties or even Bharatiya Janta Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi making it clear that development will be main plank of the Congress for coming Parliament elections.
Interestingly, this is first time when the local leaders also put hoarding displaying the development work and several flag-ships programme of United Progressive Alliance taken up in the area as during last Assembly elections they lost all the five Assembly seats in the district just as they failed to high-light the contribution of Sonia in bringing big projects to the city.
Sonia Gandhi, who reached Amethi along with her daughter Priyanka Vadra on Tuesday morning made an unscheduled visit to perform bhomipujan of AIIMS at Munshiganj old sugar mill campus in the city. She later also also chaired the meeting of the District Vigilance Committee meeting in which her daughter Priyanka attended as a member for the first time. The Congress president also inaugurated 8 branches of the UCO bank at Shora village and laid the foundation for a multi-purpose City Resources Centre in the city to be developed by HUDCo. The centre would be spread around in 9000 sq meters and UDCo will spent around Rs 12.5 crore for the construction.
"Development is a continuous process and it will continue in Rae Bareli as well as in the country," Sonia Gandhi said while addressing a function at the Rail Coach factory at lalganj while laying the foundation stone of the Railway Wheel factory. " These projects are a step towards the development while UPA government has already ntroduced the ambitious Food Security Act and the land Acquisition Act benefiting the farmers and poor the most," she said.The UPA chairperson said that the Centre has approved the second phase of the Prime Minsiter Gramin Sadak Yojgna which will give 3000 kilometers of new roads in Uttar Pradesh.
"The Food Security Act would enable more foodgrains to UP. While during the PDS regime the state was getting 67 lakh tonne of wheat but in the Food Security Act, UP will get 96 lakh tonne of wheat," she claimed. Talking about the Rail wheel factory, Congress president said that the local people would be given priority in the jobs. "I have a concern for you all and will fulfill all your dreams," she said while narrating about the launching of a Mega Food Park at Jagdishpur on Monday by her son and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. "The food park will develop 150 kilometer radius of the area in a big way," the congress president said.
later Rashtriya Ispat Nigam limited (RINl) chairman A P Choudhury said that the wheel factory would give 50 per cent of the jobs to the local youths. The wheel factory to produce around one lakh wheels a year will be completed within 36 months with a cost of Rs 1100 crores. The sudden decision to lay the foundation stone for AIIMS could irk the Samajwadi Party government which had provided land for the Rs 1000 crore project. Sources said with the bhomipujan, the work has started for the AIIMS by public sector unit Hospital Services and Building
Construction Company. Earlier, the UP government had formally transferred 97.69 acres of land to the central government for setting up AIIMS in Rae Bareli. The institute will come up near the closed Nandganj Sihori Sugar Mill at Munshiganj, five kilometres from Rae Bareli city on the lucknow-Allahabad highway. The 90-years lease deed of the land was registered in favour of the union health and family welfare ministry at the district registration office, Rae Bareli. After the Railway function at lalganj, Sonia Gandhi along with her daughter left for New Delhi.