Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under the Ayushman Bharat scheme here today.
He also visited Jangala Development Hub, which is situated in a panchayat that has emerged as a model. He interacted with local ‘Champions of Change’ in this Left Wing Extremism-affected district, especially post the launch of the Aspirational District programme on January 5.
Internet scheme
He inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km network of fibre-optics cables would be spread across seven districts of the tribal region. The districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.
Mr. Modi, the first Prime Minister to visit Bijapur, also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur, bringing north Bastar region on the rail network.
This is the Prime Minister’s fourth visit to Chhattisgarh, where the Assembly elections are due later this year. He had visited Dantewada in May 2015, Naya Raipur and Rajnandgaon in February 2016 and Naya Raipur in November 2016.
Mr. Modi also inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited a rural BPO centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. The BPO centre is provided Internet link by the Bastar Internet scheme.
Road projects
He laid the foundation for road and bridge projects worth over ₹1,700 crore.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Health Minister J.P. Nadda were also present.
Under Ayushman Bharat, the government will open 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres by 2022, which will be equipped to treat a host of diseases, including blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and old-age illness. Also under the scheme, the government has prepared the contours of the National Health Protection Scheme and the work is on to finalise parameters for identifying beneficiaries and hospital entitlement. On January 5, Mr. Modi asked officials to devote these coming three months to developing these less-developed districts.
