DHARWAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Karnataka is the engine of high-tech India which needs the power of a double-engine government. Speaking after the inauguration of the campus of IIT-Dharwad and some other development works, and laying the foundation stone for others including Hubballi branch of Jayadeva Cardiovascular Science and Research Institute on Sunday, Modi said that Karnataka has given a tech-future identity to India, and it was time to take it forward.
Everybody demands better infrastructure and today, he said, adding that in “New India”, everyone is benefitting from modern infrastructures. As the central government has been working continuously over the past nine years, the rural road network has been strengthened, highway length has increased by over 55 per cent, railway infrastructure and service have improved and number of airports have doubled, he said.
Because the country has offered a strong and cheap digital infrastructure and service, the country has emerged as the strongest digital economy in the world, he said. In the last nine years, on average 1.5 lakh broadband connections were given and also penetration reached every village, he said.
Along with economic infrastructure through PM Gatishakti, Modi said that social infrastructure also been improved by building toilets, providing LPG connections, better and cheap healthcare facilities, offering power connection, and building affordable houses to poor and good educational institutions for youths.
Modi said the central government has focused on opening more IITs and IIMs, and 250 more medical colleges have been added.
WORLD’S LONGEST RAILWAY PLATFORM
Shri Siddharoodha Swami Hubballi Railway Station has the longest railway platform in the world. It entered the Guinness Book of World Records, recently. The 1,507-m-long platform has been built at a cost of Rs 20 crore.