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Modi inaugurates mega infra projects in Gujarat
PM Modi inaugurated infrastructure projects in Gujarat, including the Sudarshan Setu bridge. He also virtually launched medical facilities across 23 states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated infrastructure projects worth thousands of crores of rupees in Gujarat’s Rajkot and Dwarka besides virtually launching medical facilities across 23 states and Union territories.
The prime minister inaugurated the Sudarshan Setu, connecting the Okha mainland and the Beyt Dwarka island, built at a cost of around ₹980 crore. The 2.32km cable-stayed bridge is the longest of its kind in the country, the PMO said in a statement.
Sudarshan Setu boasts a unique design, featuring a footpath adorned with verses from the Bhagavad Gita and images of Lord Krishna on both sides, it said. It has solar panels installed on the upper portions of the footpath, the statement said. Before the construction of the bridge, pilgrims had to rely on boat transport to reach Beyt Dwarka.
“There was a time when all the major programmes of the country used to take place in Delhi only. I took the government of India out from Delhi to every corner of the country,” the Prime Minister said.
The projects Modi inaugurated include a pipeline project in Vadinar involving the replacement of existing offshore lines, abandoning the existing pipeline and relocating the entire system to a nearby location.
Modi inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 200 health infrastructure projects worth over ₹11,500 crore across the country. He virtually dedicated five All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Rajkot (Gujarat), Bathinda (Punjab), Raebareli (Uttar Pradesh), Kalyani (West Bengal), and Mangalagiri (Andhra Pradesh), besides a medical college of JIPMER at Karaikal, Puducherry, and a 300-bed satellite centre of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical and Educational Research (PGIMER) in Sangrur, Punjab, among others, the PMO statement said.
He highlighted the swift pace of development during his government, noting that in the last 10 days alone, seven All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) had been initiated, contrasting sharply with the past where only seven were approved over seven decades, with some left incomplete.
The Prime Minister, speaking at a public rally in Rajkot, cited the example of a recent event in Jammu & Kashmir from where he inaugurated new campuses for Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in Bhilai and Tirupati, the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Kurnool, as well as for the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) in Bodh Gaya, Jammu, and Visakhapatnam, along with the Indian Institute of Science (IIS) in Kanpur.
“Today marks the inauguration of AIIMS Rajkot, AIIMS Raebareli, AIIMS Mangalagiri, AIIMS Bathinda and AIIMS Kalyani. India is getting work done at a fast pace, especially when you look at these 5 AIIMS,” Modi said.
He said the Rajkot AIIMS offers a glimpse of how the health sector of the world’s fifth largest economy should be.
“For the first 50 years after Independence, there was only one AIIMS and that too in Delhi. In the seven decades since Independence, only seven AIIMS were approved, but even these were never completed. But now, in the last 10 days, seven new AIIMS were inaugurated or its foundation stones laid. That is why I am saying we are developing the country at a pace much faster than what happened in the last six to seven decades,” he said.
The Prime Minister recalled his long association with Rajkot and said that 22 years ago he was elected MLA from the constituency. “I can see that generations have changed but affection for Modi is beyond any age limit,” he said.
The Prime Minister told the audience about his time in the temple town of Dwarka earlier during the day, where he enjoyed scuba diving off the Arabian Sea coast at Panchkui beach in Gujarat.
“To pray in the city of Dwarka, which is immersed in the waters, was a very divine experience. I felt connected to an ancient era of spiritual grandeur and timeless devotion. May Bhagwan Shri Krishna bless us all,” the Prime Minister said in a post on X.
“Reading the archaeological and religious text fills us with wonder about Dwarka. Today I got an opportunity to see that holy scene with my own eyes and I could touch the holy remains. I offered prayers and offered ‘Mor-Pankh’ there. It is difficult to describe that feeling,” said the Prime Minister.
“In those depths, I was wondering about the glorious past of India. When I came out, I came out carrying the blessings of Bhagwan Krishna as well as the inspiration of Dwarka”, the Prime Minister said. “This gave a new strength and energy to my resolution of ‘Vikas aur Virasat’. A divine belief has become associated with my goal for Viksit Bharat,” he added.
Beyt Dwarka is an island near Okha port, nearly 30km from Dwarka town, where the famous Dwarkadhish temple of Lord Krishna is situated.
Emphasising that visuals of India’s potential in the 21st century kept appearing before him when he was offering prayers at the submerged city of Dwarka, the Prime Minister said it has further strengthened his resolve for the creation of a Viksit Bharat.
Reflecting on opposition to his vision of a New India, the Prime Minister highlighted that people were witnessing its realisation firsthand, attributing previous delays to a lack of political resolve and self-serving motives of dynasty politics, which hindered assistance to the impoverished and restrained economic growth for the aspirations of a developed India. He also condemned past administrations for recurrent scams.
The Prime Minister recalled his promise of not allowing anyone to plunder the nation upon assuming office in 2014.
“Scams worth thousands of crores which used to take place during the previous governments have all been stopped now,” he said, underlining that the nation has leapfrogged to become the fifth largest economy in 10 years. As a result, the Prime Minister said, one can witness the re-emergence of places of divine faith and pilgrimage on one hand and the development of new India through mega projects on the other.
