Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of 23 developmental projects worth over Rs 17,000 crore in Haldwani, Uttarakhand, which aim to improve connectivity and well-being of the people in the state.
Among the 23 projects, the foundation stone was laid for 17 projects worth over Rs 14,100 crore. According to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), these projects cover a wide array of sectors/areas across the state including irrigation, road, housing, health infrastructure, industry, sanitation, drinking water supply. The programme witnessed the inauguration of six projects including multiple road widening projects, a hydropower project in Pithoragarh and projects to improve the sewerage network in Nainital. The cumulative cost of the projects being inaugurated is over Rs 3,400 crore.
The foundation stone for multiple road construction projects was also laid, including a four-lane 85-kilometre Moradabad-Kashipur Road, which will be built at a cost of over Rs 4,000 crore. Similarly, foundation stone was laid for a two-lane 22-kilometre Gadarpur-Dineshpur-Madkota-Haldwani road (SH-5) and the 18-kilometre Kiccha-Pantnagar road (SH-44). Other projects include construction of the 8-kilometre Khatima bypass in Udham Singh Nagar; construction of the four-lane National Highway (NH109D) would be built at a cost of over Rs 175 crores to improve the connectivity of Garhwal, Kumaon and Terai regions along with the connectivity between Uttarakhand and Nepal.
The PM also laid the foundation stone for the long-pending Lakhwar Multipurpose Project which is to be built for Rs 5,750 crore. The project was first introduced in 1976 and was pending since then. The establishment of this project will provide drinking water to the six states—Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan along with the irrigation of 34,000 hectares of extra land.
During the inauguration, PM Modi said, “It has been a permanent trademark of those who were in the government before, to hinder developmental projects. Lakhwar Project, which started today, has the same history, it was first thought of in 1976. Today after 46 years, our government has laid the foundation stone for its work.”
While addressing the gathering, PM Modi said, “These inaugurated development projects will give better connectivity and better health to the people of Haldwani. We are bringing a scheme worth Rs 2,000 crore for the development of the overall infrastructure of Haldwani, for water, sewage, road, parking, street lights.” As per the Prime Minister’s Office, the development projects will cover several sectors such as irrigation, roads, housing, health infrastructure, industry, sanitation, and drinking water supply.
Further, he continued, “Uttarakhand has completed 20 years of its formation. In these years, you have also seen such people running the government who used to say-you may look Uttarakhand but save my government. These people looted Uttarakhand with both hands.”
While discussing the “failure” of previous governments in supporting the Indian Army, PM Modi said, “Along with connectivity, every aspect of national security was ignored earlier; made our Army only wait for ‘One Rank, One Pension,’ modern weapons, bullet-proof jackets and even to give a strong answer to terrorists.”
While speaking of cleanliness and maintaining hygiene in the rally, PM Modi said, “We are engaged in a mission to make better sewage system, better toilets and to reduce the number of drains opening into river Ganga from Gangotri to Ganga Sagar in West Bengal. These developmental projects will also benefit the women from the 13 districts of Uttarakhand as many women suffered due to a lack of toilets and poor infrastructure.”
Praising the developmental works carried out by PM Modi, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, “Under the leadership of PM Modi, Article 370 has been abrogated in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ram Temple construction has started in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya. The country is seeing development in all sectors.”