BHUBANESWAR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said the Narendra Modi government is fully committed for all-round development of Odisha that was a victim of neglect during the long tenure of Congress regime at Centre.
Giving an account of the Prime Minister's contribution for Odisha on the completion of his first year in the second term by addressing to a virtual rally through social broadcasting media from New Delhi, Shah said: “You should not see one year in isolation but the six years of the BJP government at Centre.” The central assistance for the state during first tenure of the Modi government (2014-19) was Rs 2.11 lakh crore as against Rs 79,486 crore during the Congress-led UPA regime. “The total Central assistance for Odisha in the last 6 years is about Rs 5,52,109 crore which shows the commitment of the Prime Minister for the State,” he said.
"Ye Modiji ki sarkar hai, jo bolte hain woh kar ke dikhate hain (This is Modi Government, he does what he promises),” Shah said.
Assuring more for the state in the coming days, Shah said, “We are not like Congress which deserts the people during their crisis (with obvious reference to the 1999 super cyclone).” The Prime Minister stood solidly behind the people of the state during each crisis, be it cyclone Huhud in 2014 or Fani in 2019 and
Amphan this year. The speed at which he sanctioned financial assistance for Odisha and West Bengal was never seen in the past. This is his commitment for the state, he added.
Listing out areas in which the State got special attention of the Centre, Shah said around 28 lakh poor families of the state are beneficiaries of the Ujjwala scheme out of 8 crore families of the country. The special credit goes to Union Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
“We have achieved our target of providing pucca houses to poor families, electricity for all and construction of 10 crore toilets in individual households. The target this time is to provide piped water supply to all households,” he said. Around 42 per cent of the population of Odisha has no access to safe drinking water. They will be benefited from this Central scheme, he added.
Lambasting the Congress for its appeasement and vote bank politics, Shah said Modi is fulfilling the “Garibi Hatao” slogan which the grand old party failed in the last six decades. He also urged BJP workers to make Odisha an impregnable fortress of the party, a goal which he said has remained unfinished.
Praising BJP president JP Nadda for this futuristic idea of virtual rally, Shah said Prime Minister's “do gaz ki doori” (a distance of two yards) mantra to fight against the coronavirus pandemic cannot mean to put a distance between BJP and its people.
The party has decided to conduct 75 such rallies across the country to the reach out the people and tell them what the Modi Government has done for them.