Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday lavished praise on Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh for his hunger for development and remarked that Chhattisgarh shows how a relatively smaller State can scale new heights of development.
“Chhattisgarh has shown the way and demonstrate how a relatively smaller State can scale new heights in development, the State is doing exceedingly well under leadership of Raman Singh,’’ Modi remarked while addressing a crowded rally at Naya Raipur to launch the five-day extravaganza ‘Chhattisgarh Rajyotsva’.
He recalled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and stated ‘on a day of the 16th anniversary of the State, we should remember him who gave Chhattisgarh to nation”. Chhattisgarh was carved out as a separate State on November 1, 2000 with a split of Madhya Pradesh when Vajpayee was the Prime Minister.
Modi spent roughly three hours in Chhattisgarh and inaugurated the first man-made jungle safari of the country in Naya Raipur. The Jungle Safari is spread out in 320-hectare stretch where Modi indulged in some wildlife photography.
He was seen taking a zoom-in shot of the tiger fearlessly, while the ferocious animal was growling at him. Modi's pictures, in which he can be seen clicking images of the tigers in the safari, have gone viral on social media. "One for the camera....at the Nandan Van Jungle Safari,’’ Modi tweeted along with his images of photographing the big cats.
Modi opined, “Chhattisgarh has immense potential of eco-tourism which can generate huge employment by investing little capital in its development. At investment far less than what is required for setting up an industrial unit, concepts like jungle safaris can be big money spinners for small States like Chhattisgarh,’’.
He unveiled a 15-feet statue of Jan Sangh ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay at Naya Raipur and also dedicated the two-kilometre long 'Ekatm Path' to people of the state, constructed between Naya Raipur railway station and Capitol Complex (secretariat).
Modi also launched the Saur Sujala Yojana in Chhattisgarh that would provide solar powered irrigation pumps to farmers at a subsidized price. Chhattisgarh would be the first state to implement the scheme. Under the scheme, solar powered irrigation pumps of 3HP and 5HP capacity worth `3.5 lakh and `4.5 lakh respectively would be distributed to the farmers by March 31, 2019.