Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated three projects in his home State Gujarat — one each related to farmers’ welfare, healthcare, and tourism development — via video conference from New Delhi.
PM Modi launched the ‘Kisan Suryodaya Yojana’ aimed at providing day-time electricity to farmers in the State for irrigation and farming purposes. The second project he inaugurated is a paediatric heart hospital at the U.N. Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre in Ahmedabad, developed with an investment of ₹470 crore by the State’s Health Department.
The third project the PM launched is a 2.3 km-long ropeway project on Mount Girnar in Junagadh city, a major pilgrimage site. The ropeway project is being touted as the longest temple ropeway in Asia. The 2.3 km Girnar ropeway has been developed by Usha Breco Limited at an investment of ₹130 crore.
In his address on the occasion, Mr. Modi said, “The world class ropeway will make it convenient for more people to visit Girnar. Earlier, it used to take five-seven hours to climb Girnar, but now it will take only seven-eight minutes. More devotees and tourists will visit Girnar. It will give a boost to adventure activities. I am also happy that the project will create more employment opportunities for local youths.”
The Girnar ropeway is a state-of-the-art passenger ropeway comprising 25 cabins, including one glass-floored cabin, each having the capacity to carry eight passengers at a time. The ropeway will ferry 800 people in an hour, and 8,000 in a day.
During his online inaugural address, PM Modi slammed the Opposition over the delay in completion of the ropeway project.
“Had they not created hurdles in [the building of the] Girnar ropeway, it would not have stalled for so many years. People and tourists should have got the benefit of it a long time back,” he said, adding that the project not implemented due to controversies related to environment and other factors.
“As a country, we should think of the loss to the people of the nation when such projects [as the Girnar ropeway] of public importance are stalled for a long time,” he added.
On the Kisan Suryodaya scheme, Mr. Modi said, “Farmers should save water and adopt the mantra ‘per drop, more crop’.” He also stressed on using technology in farming for boosting production and productivity for farmers.
“Now, as farmers will get electricity during the day, they should also emphasise on saving more water,” the PM added.
