NEW DELHI, July 13: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed on Saturday that eight crore new jobs were made available in the country in the last three to four years. He quoted a recent report of the Reserve Bank of India to make the claim.
“RBI recently published a detailed report on employment. As per the report, around eight crore new jobs were created in the last three-four years. This figure has silenced those spreading fake narrative on jobs,” Mr Modi said. “Skill development and employment are needed in the country and our government is working in this direction,” he said.
Mr Modi was speaking at an event in Mumbai’s Goregaon suburb after launching and laying the foundation stone for ₹29,000 crore projects in road, railway and port sectors in the city. He laid the foundation stone of two twin tunnels between Thane and Borivali as well as the BMC’s Goregaon Mulund Link Road and inaugurated developmental projects worth Rs 29,400 crore in Mumbai.
“The development projects launched in Mumbai today will enhance connectivity, significantly upgrade the city’s infrastructure and greatly benefit its citizens,” the prime minister said in an X post. The upcoming infrastructure projects in and around Mumbai will boost connectivity of the city with nearby areas, he said. “Small and big investors have welcomed our government’s third term with enthusiasm,” he added.
He said his aim was to “make Maharashtra the world’s big financial powerhouse and to make Mumbai a global fintech capital.”
PM Modi arrived in Mumbai earlier in the day and was felicitated by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. The prime minister also inaugurated important road and rail projects, including the new platforms at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus and the extension of platforms 10 and 11 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. He laid the foundation stone for Central Railway’s Kalyan yard remodelling and the Gati Shakti Multi-modal Cargo Terminal at Turbhe in Navi Mumbai.
The Thane-Borivali twin tube tunnels project, which is being built at Rs 16,600 crore, will pass under Sanjay Gandhi National Park and create a direct connection between the Western Express Highway at Borivali and Ghodbunder Road in Thane. The 11.8-km Borivali-Thane Link Road will reduce the journey from Thane to Borivali by 12 km and save an hour in travel time.
“The twin tunnels of the Rs 6,300 crore Goregaon Mulund Link Road (GMLR) project will connect the Western Express Highway at Goregaon to the Eastern Express Highway at Mulund. The project will bring down the travel time to 25 minutes from the current 75 minutes,” said an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
About the remodelling of Kalyan Yard, a Central Railway official said it would help segregate suburban and long-distance train traffic on the highly congested network in the Mumbai metropolitan region, in turn improving punctuality and operational efficiency.
“The Gati Shakti Multi-modal Cargo Terminal will enhance the capacity to handle cement and other commodities while creating job opportunities in the region. The new platforms at LTT will be able to accommodate more trains, while extended platforms number 10 and 11 at CSMT will help in the running of 24-coach trains. Both these developments will increase ridership,” the BMC official said.
Mr Modi also launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Yuva Karya Prashikshan Yojana’, which has an outlay of Rs 5,600 crore.
(Manas Dasgupta)
