Ahmedabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that for the BJP coming to power was an opportunity to do social service.
He said this while addressing a huge gathering at Khudvel in Navsari district as part of the Gujarat Gaurav Abhiyan.
Modi inaugurated projects worth over Rs 3,000 crore. He said, “It is an honour that I have worked as the Chief Minister for so many years, but never before has there been such a big event in the tribal area…Today, the duo of Bhupendra Bhai and CR (Gujarat BJP chief C.R. Patil), which inspires confidence in the people with enthusiasm, has resulted in more than 5 lakh people appearing in front of me today. What I couldn’t do, my colleagues have done.”
The Prime Minister said that all these projects will make life easier for millions of people in South Gujarat, including Navsari, Tapi, Surat, Valsad. Electricity, water, roads, health, education, all kinds of facilities will increase, he said.
Projects of Rs 1,510 crore for the water scheme, Rs 98 crore for the road building department, and Rs 542 crore of health department were inaugurated. A total of Rs 901 crore was dedicated, including Rs 749 crore for water schemes, Rs 85 crore for energy, Rs 46 crore for road construction and Rs 20 crore for urban development works.
Targeting the Opposition, Modi said, “The poor, the downtrodden, the deprived, the tribals and the women all had to struggle to meet their lifelong needs. The one who ran the government the most after Independence did not make any development. Because it takes a lot of hard work. Only poor and tribal families built paved roads across the country. If vaccinations were given, it would take years to reach the tribals or the poor and the villages… We have delivered the vaccine to the forest areas. We have extended banking facilities to villages and tribal areas. We have launched a 100 per cent empowerment campaign for the poor.”
To touch the locals more, Modi said in Gujarati, “After a long time, I have come to Chikhli, many memories are refreshed. In those years there were no tools to come here. We could not even drive to many villages… This love and blessing is my strength. I learned a lot from them, cleanliness, discipline. The social life of the tribal society is ideal, they protect the environment.”
“In the past, there was a Chief Minister from a tribal area who could not get a water tank in his own village… Today, we are having Rs three thousand crore worth project work in the tribal areas. Gujarat had a CM who inaugurated a water tank in Jamnagar, and his news were published on the front pages.”
“Some people say that we are working as elections are coming soon. I challenge them to find even a week of my tenure when I have not done any development work. When I came up with a plan to irrigate the area in 2018, people said that they came to talk because of the 2019 elections. Today the plan is reaching the people. No one works hard to get water for 200 to 300 votes. The blessings of the people make us win elections. It is our commitment to live for the people, we inaugurate the development work that we lay the foundation stone for. It is not our job to waste time in political games. For us, power is an opportunity to serve the people.”
The Prime Minister will inaugurate the MA Nayak Healthcare Campus and Nirali Multi speciality Cancer Hospital on Navsari Highway No. 48. The MultiCare hospital has modern facilities for cancer care, Cardiac, Paediatric, General Surgery, World Class CT MRI are also provided in the hospital. The hospital has a total of 400 beds, of which 100 beds will be started on a primary basis at present.
In this regard, he said, many countries in the world had corona but no country has vaccinated people in this way. “There was not a single science school from Umargam to Ambaji. The work I started in 2001 with the school of science has now led to the formation of colleges and universities of engineering and medicine. Now if any children want to become a doctor, they do not need to study in English medium. We make them doctors in Gujarati medium.”
He also congratulated Dang district for being a 100 per cent natural farming district.
(IANS)
