Prime Minister Narendra Modi raises BJP’s electoral pitch in Itanagar, saying unlike others, he does not do work ‘by counting number of Parliament seats from a place
Launching development projects worth Rs 55,600 crore for various Northeastern states in a massive public program in Arunachal Pradesh's Itanagar on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the BJP's electoral pitch in the region by declaring “Modi does not do work by counting the number of Parliament seats from a place”.
During the event in Itanagar, PM Modi launched the central government's new flagship project for the North East – the Uttar Poorva Transformative Industrialization Scheme, 2024 (UNNATI – 2024) which has a financial outlay of Rs 10,037 crore over 10 years – which was approved by the Union Cabinet earlier this week. Launching the scheme, Modi said that the expansion of industries will now be the major focus area for the NDA government in the Northeastern region.
“In 10 years, we have expanded modern infrastructure in the region. Nearly one dozen peace agreements have been arrived at… we have resolved multiple border disputes. The next step of development is the expansion of industry in the Northeast. The Rs 10,000 crore UNNATI scheme will bring new avenues for investment and employment in the Northeast. New sectors and services will come together for manufacturing here and the government will give its assistance to new industries. My whole emphasis has been that startups, new technologies, homestay, tourism, these kind of different sectors in which our youth want to enter, I give the guarantee to completely support those young people,” he said.
The other major inauguration at Itanagar was the Sela Tunnel project. The project, executed by the Border Roads Organisation, includes two tunnels and a link road. While Tunnel 1 is a 980 m-long single tube, Tunnel 2 is 1,555 meters with one bi-lane tube for traffic and one escape tube for emergencies running alongside. The link road between the two tunnels will be 1,200 metres.
Launching it, Modi said, “Through this tunnel, our people in Tawang will get all-weather connectivity. Coming and going, transport will become easier for local people. With that, tourism in Arunachal will also be expanded,” he said.
In 2019, from here I had laid the foundation stone of Sela Tunnel. And today, it is made. Is this called a guarantee or not? Is this a ‘pakki guarantee’ or not? In 2019, I had also laid the foundation stone for Donyi Polo Airport. Now is it not functioning well? I had done it in 2019 and some people had opined that Modi did it for elections. Tell me, did I do it for elections or did I do it for you?… My work is only for our countrymen and for you,” he added.
He also took the opportunity to hit out at the Congress and the INDIA Opposition alliance, accusing previous Congress governments of neglecting the region because of the small number of Parliament seats from the region.
“Earlier, when they should have been making modern infrastructure along our borders, the Congress governments were busy with scams. Congress was playing with the development of the country by keeping our border and its villages weak. To keep your own Army weak, your own people deprived of facilities, that is the way of the Congress’s functioning… SELA tunnel could have been earlier as well. But Congress's priority was something else. There are only one or two seats, why should we put in so much effort? Modi doesn’t do work by counting the number of Parliament seats…he does by keeping the country’s needs in mind,” he said.
At the event, he also inaugurated, dedicated and laid the foundation stones for projects in Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
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