Press Information Bureau

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, Shri 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, Shri Naveen Patnaik and Union Minister of Education and Skill Development, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan were present on the occasion.

Union Home Minister said that on August 5, 2019 Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi took a historic decision to abrogate Article 370 and integrate Kashmir with India forever. He said that today Kashmir has not only joined the mainstream but the path of development along with peace has also been paved there.

Shri Amit 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.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation said that in the last 9 years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, a lot of importance has been given to infrastructure development in the country and there is no shortage of budget for this. He said that Prime Minister Modi believes that the country cannot develop without the development of infrastructure. Shri Shah said that the Modi government has accelerated the pace of construction of highways by adopting a scientific approach for faster toll collection through fast tag, efficiency in land acquisition process, speedy resolution of disputes, emphasis on information technology and finding alternative methods of funding. He said that construction of highways boosts economic activities in the country.

Shri Amit Shah 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. Shri Shah said that Odisha and the Chief Minister of the state, Shri Naveen Patnaik 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.

Union Home Minister and Minister of Cooperation, said that the Narendra Modi government has done a lot of work for Odisha. He said that Rs 1,14,000 crore was given under Devolution and Grant-in-aid by the  previous government at the Centre, while the Modi government has given Rs 4,57,000 crore under both the heads. In addition, the Modi government has done the work of increasing the total allocation from Rs 3 lakh crore to Rs 18 lakh crore which is more than 6 times. He said that Prime Minister Modi gave Rs 10,000 crores for the railways in Odisha, provided Indian Oil pipeline  at a cost of Rs 800 crores, built IIT-Bhubaneswar, opened Indian Science Education and Research Centre, ESI Hospital Bhubaneswar was upgraded and 1500 bedded AIIMS Bhubaneswar was also established in the state.

Shri Amit 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.  Shri Shah said that thousands of people had lost their lives in the cyclone that hit Odisha in 1999, but today whenever a cyclone hits Odisha, there are zero casualties, which is appreciated all over the world. He said that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has made disaster management an important part of governance through NDRF and NDMA and Odisha government has given full support in this.

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