New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 23 developmental projects worth Rs 17,500 crores in Uttarakhand, saying earlier regimes had always opposed development.
“It has been a trademark of those who were in the government earlier to delay development projects,” the Prime Minister said.
He said the Lakhwar Project which was started on Thursday was first conceived in 1976. “Our government has now laid the foundation stone for its work. This delay is nothing short of a crime.”
Modi said that “deprivation and hassles of the past are now being converted into facilities”.
Addressing a gathering in Haldwani, the Prime Minister said the ongoing decade belongs to Uttarakhand, which will see elections next year.
Modi slammed the Congress for delaying key infrastructural projects in Uttarakhand and for keeping the state deprived of development.
The Lakhwar project will enable irrigation of about 34,000 hectares of additional land, produce 300 MW hydro power and supply drinking water to Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
“People heading the governments earlier … These people looted Uttarakhand with both hands. Those who love Uttarakhand cannot think of doing so,” Modi said.
He said his “energies were involved in correcting the wrongs committed earlier. Now it is the work of the people of Uttarakhand to correct the opposition”.
The Haldwani visit is the fourth visit by Modi in past three months.
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of AIIMS Rishikesh satellite centre at Udham Singh Nagar and the Jagjivan Ram Government Medical College at Pithoragarh. (UNI)
