Prime Minister to gift ₹2095 crore projects, schemes to Varanasi today
This will be Modi’s second visit to his constituency in 10 days. He will lay the foundation stone of the Banas Dairy Kashi Sankul (complex), digitally transfer ₹35 crore bonus to accounts of over 1.7 lakh milk producers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will gift projects and schemes worth over ₹2095 crore to Varanasi on Thursday, an official statement said. This includes laying the foundation of projects worth ₹1225 crore.
It would be PM’s second visit to his Lok Sabha constituency in 10 days. Before this, he was in Varanasi on December 13 when he inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor. He also attended a conclave of chief ministers the next day.
Among the projects, he would lay the foundation stone of the Banas Dairy Kashi Sankul (complex) at the UP State Industrial Development Authority Food Park in Karkhiyaon area of Varanasi on Thursday, said the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kashi region spokesperson Navratan Rathi on Wednesday.
Rathi said the dairy project will empower the farmers and milk producers of eastern UP region, besides providing customers good quality products at affordable prices.
Spread over 30 acres, the dairy will be built at a cost of about ₹475 crore and will have the capacity to process five lakh litre of milk per day.
The Prime Minister will also digitally transfer about ₹35 crore bonus to the bank accounts of more than 1.7 lakh (170,000) milk producers associated with Banas Dairy, officials said.
Modi will also lay the foundation stone for a biogas-based electricity generation plant for the Milk Producers’ Cooperative Union Plant at Ramnagar, Varanasi to make it energy self-sufficient.
He will also launch a portal and logo dedicated to the Conformity Assessment Scheme of milk products, developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with the help of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The unified logo, featuring logos of both BIS and NDDB quality mark, will simplify the certification process for the dairy sector and will reassure the public about dairy product quality, said a Press Information Bureau statement.
In another effort to reduce the land ownership issues at the grassroot level, the Prime Minister will virtually distribute the rural residential rights record “Gharauni” under the Swamitva scheme of the Union ministry of panchayati raj, to over 20 lakh residents of Uttar Pradesh.
Multiple urban development projects, including six projects for the redevelopment of Old Kashi wards, a parking and surface park at Beniabagh, beautification of two ponds, a sewage treatment plant at Ramna village and advanced surveillance cameras at 720 locations under Smart City Mission will be inaugurated.
The Union education ministry’s Inter University Centre for Teachers Education, built at a cost of around ₹107 crore and a Teachers’ Education Centre at Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, built at a cost of over ₹7 crore will also be inaugurated. Further, Modi will inaugurate residential flats and staff quarters at BHU and ITI Karaundi.
In the health sector, he will inaugurate a project comprising doctors’ hostel, a nurses’ hostel and shelter home amounting to ₹130 crore, at the Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Cancer Centre. He will open a 50-bed Integrated Ayush Hospital at Bhadrasi. The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation of the ₹49 Cr Government Homoeopathic Medical College in Pindra tehsil under the Ayush Mission.
In the road sector, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stones of two “4 to 6 lane” road widening projects for Prayagraj and Bhadohi. This will improve connectivity to Varanasi and be a step towards resolving the problem of the city’s traffic congestion.
Modi will also inaugurate Phase-1 of a tourism development project related to Ravidas temple at Seer Govardhan, Varanasi.
Rathi said that all the preparations for the PM Modi’s programme have been completed.
Banas Dairy
In July 2021, Banas Dairy provided 100 cows of the best indigenous breeds to farmer families in Varanasi for model dairy farming. These farmers were given training in cattle rearing and dairy farm management and arrangements have been made for continuous guidance for animal husbandry, the statement said.
Currently, over 25,000 litres of milk is procured on a daily basis from 111 places in Varanasi.
Banas Dairy is setting up its third plant in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, after Lucknow and Kanpur. Its capacity can be expanded up to 10 lakh litres per day and will be built on 30 acres of land with an estimated cost of ₹475 crore. The plant will also produce 50,000 litres of ice cream, 20 tons of paneer, 75,000 litres of butter milk, 50 tons of curd, 15,000 litres of lassi and 10,000 kg of Amul sweets per day. The plant will also have a bakery unit. It will also include a take home ration plant to produce nutritional supplements for women and children.
This project will benefit the local farmers of 1,000 neighbouring villages of Purvanchal region like Varanasi, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr, Chandauli, Bhadohi, Ghazipur, Mirzapur and Azamgarh. They will get ₹8,000-10,000 for their milk per month. This project is expected to provide direct employment to 750 people in the plant, about 2,350 people in allied works and about 1,00,000 people in villages, the statement added.