HM Amit Shah, CM Naveen Patnaik launches national highway projects in Odisha : Photo/ twitter/PIB
Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Amit Shah dedicated the widening of Kamakhyanagar-Duburi section to 4 lanes at a cost of Rs. 761 crore and laid the foundation stone of widening and strengthening of road from Motar to Baner via Ladugaon at a cost of Rs. 34 crore in Bhubaneshwar, Odisha today. Several dignitaries including Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik and Union Minister of Education and Skill Development, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan were present on the occasion.
Mr Shah said that the widening of Kamakhyanagar-Duburi to four lanes has been dedicated to the nation today. 761 crore has been spent on this 51 kilometer long section. The highway will be important in connecting the mineral-rich Angul and Dhenkanal districts of Odisha with the rest of the state and the country through the National Highway. He said that the country’s development and growth of the economy are linked with the highways. Shri Shah said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has done a lot of work for the development of highways in the country in the last 9 years. He said that today the widening and strengthening of the road from Moter in Kalahandi to Baner via Ladugaon has also started. The work on this 15 kilometre long road will be done at a cost of Rs 34 crore.
The home minister emphasised said that the Modi government has started many development projects for Odisha which have given a boost to the state’s economy. He said that in 2014 Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi had said that until the eastern part of the country is developed, the country cannot be fully developed. He said that when we bring the eastern and western regions of the country on equal footing on the scale of development, then only the country can develop. For this, the government led by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has always given importance to the eastern region and has also given special attention to Odisha. Shri Shah said that once upon a time this entire region was affected by Naxalism, but in the last 9 years, the Modi government, along with the state governments, has successfully tried to crack down on Naxalism and it has yielded results also. He hailed the Chief Minister of the state, Naveen Patnaik who have always supported the Central Government in cracking down on Naxalism. He added that the Modi government is determined to fight a strong battle against Naxalism.
Mr. Shah said that the Narendra Modi government does not want to leave any stone unturned for the development of Odisha. He said that under the Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, 40 lakh farmers of the state got benefited, under Jal Jeevan Mission pure drinking water reached 54 lakh houses, 90 lakh toilets were built, 3.25 Crore people are getting 5 kg rice per person per month free of cost, 6 lakh Ujjwala connections have been given and the work of building houses for 17 lakh villagers has also been done by the Narendra Modi government. He said that Odisha is a natural disaster prone state but Chief Minister Shri Naveen Patnaik has implemented every disaster management initiative of the Government of India. Along with this, the Odisha government itself has taken many new initiatives in the field of disaster management and has told the whole country that when the central and state governments work together, natural disasters can also be mitigated.