Ahead of assembly polls, PM Modi unveils series of development projects in MP, hits out against Congress

The PM started his six hours stay in MP by launching the Mohanpura Integrated Dam Project in Rajgarh district.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File | PTI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (File | PTI)

BHOPAL: With assembly polls just months away in Madhya Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened the basket of development projects worth around Rs 9,000 crore in the state on Saturday.

The PM started his six hours stay in MP by launching the Mohanpura Integrated Dam Project in Rajgarh district, one of the eight districts identified as backward and aspirational by the Niti Ayog in the state. The Rs 3,866 crore project includes a dam and a canal system that will render irrigable water to around 1.25 lakh hectare agricultural land in 727 villages of Rajgarh and Agar Malwa district. It was completed in four years and will also render drinking water supply to around 400 villages in the Rajgarh-Agar Malwa region.

Sporting the traditional Malwa turban, Modi also laid the foundation of three more drinking water related projects, besides unveiling the vision document of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan's government's action plan to double the irrigable land in the state from the present 40 lakh hectares by 2024. Modi subsequently flew to India's cleanest city Indore where he digitally dedicated to people urban infrastructure projects worth around Rs 5000 crore to different parts of MP.

The projects unveiled in the presence of eight-time Indore MP and Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, MP Governor Anandiben Patel and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, included the Seva Sutra urban inter-city bus service to connect 16 districts of the state. Other urban infrastructure projects unveiled by Modi at the Nehru Stadium in Indore pertained to existing smart city projects in Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Gwalior and Ujjain, among them first of its kind multi-level vehicle parking system worth Rs 37 crores in MP capital Bhopal.

He also dedicated other urban development projects for cities and towns, including Khandwa, Burhanpur, Dindori, Khargone, Sehore, Hoshangabad, Dhar and Rewa. Around one lakh urban poor families from across the state were rendered houses of their own under PM Housing Scheme. The PM also distributed the Swachh Sarvekshan Awards 2018, which saw Indore and Bhopal getting the top two awards respectively for the second straight year, while Chandigarh was honoured with the third prize. Addressing the gathering at Indore (considered BJP's impregnable bastion), Modi said "housing schemes aren't new to the country, they have been formulated in the past also, but every child in the country knows how were they formulated and implemented during the previous regime.

Right from naming of the scheme to building of houses and their allotment, everything was mired in controversy, which will always remain etched in the history of Congress regimes of past." But after being voted to power by the people, the NDA government took a pledge that when the country celebrates 75 years of country's independence in 2022 there won't be any family in the country which will not have a house of its own. "In next three to four years more than two crore houses will be built for urban poor families." "Despite the fact that a large portion of population turn to cities for employment and education, the Congress rule never took care of development in cities. Problem of traffic jams, water and electricity shortage, leaking sewage and filth all around became the hallmark of urban India during Congress regimes."

He further said while his government earmarked Rs two lakh thirty thousand crores in the last four years for urban infrastructure development, the erstwhile regimes led by the Congress merely sanctioned 95,000 crores in 10 years, which too was not utilized fully. Earlier, addressing a massive public gathering after digitally unveiling the Mohanpur dam in Rajgarh district, PM Modi remembered Jan Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mukherjee on his death anniversary. He hit out at the Congress saying it was unfortunate that deliberate efforts were made to forget or diminish the contribution of other leaders, while glorifying one family.

"Ye hamare desh ka durbhagya hai ki ek parivar ka mahima mandan karne ke liye desh ke anek saputon aur unke yogdan ko janboojh kar ke chhota kar diya gaya, unko bhoola dene ke bharpur prayas kiye gaye (It has been a misfortune of our country that in order to glorify one family many other leaders and their contributions were deliberately lessened or efforts were made to forgot their contribution)," said Modi. Terming Mukherjee's death in Kashmir as mysterious, the PM said the Jana Sangh founder had trust in country's resources and people and his vision still inspires crores today. As Industry and Supply minister, he formulated country's first industrial policy. Quoting Mukherjee he said, "If government, educational institutions and industry associations join hands to promote industries, the country will soon become economically independent."

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