NEW DELHI, Oct 24: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated three key projects in Gujarat on Saturday through video conferencing.
Modi launched the Kisan Suryodaya Yojana for providing 16 hours of power supply to farmers. He also inaugurated the Paediatric Heart Hospital attached with U.N Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre and a Mobile Application for tele-cardiology at the Government Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated the Ropeway at Girnar hills on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, he said Gujarat had always been an exemplary model for the determination and dedication of the common man. He added after the Sujalam-Suflam and Sauni schemes, the Kisan Suryodaya Yojana has set a milestone in meeting the needs of the Gujarat Farmers. He said the work done in Gujarat for years in the field of electricity, had become the basis of this scheme. He said from power generation to transmission all the works were carried out in mission mode to improve the capacity in the state. He said in 2010 when the Solar Power Plant was inaugurated in Patan, nobody could have imagined that India would show the world the path for “One Sun, One World, One Grid.” Prime Minister appreciated the fact that India had now reached 5th position in the world in the last few years in solar power and was advancing fast.
On Kisan Suryodaya Yojana the Prime Minister said earlier most of the farmers got power for irrigation in the night only and had to keep awake all night. In Girnar and Junagadh the farmers also faced the problems of wild animals. Under the Kisan Suryodaya Yojana farmers would get three-phase power supply from 5 AM to 9 PM and would bring a new dawn in their lives.
The Prime Minister also lauded the efforts of the Gujarat government for doing this work by preparing a completely new capacity of transmission, without affecting the other existing systems. Under this scheme, about 3500 circuit kilometers of new transmission lines would be laid in the next 2-3 years and would be implemented in more than a thousand villages in the coming days and most of these villages were in tribal dominated areas. He said it would change the lives of lakhs of farmers, when the entire Gujarat get the power supply through this scheme.
The Prime Minister urged to work continuously in line with the changing times to help the farmers in doubling their income, by reducing their investment and overcoming their difficulties. He listed the initiatives of the Government to double the income of the farmers like formation of thousands of FPOs, neem coating urea, Soil Health Cards and launching of many new initiatives. He said under KUSUM yojana, FPOs, Panchayats and all such organizations were assisted in setting up small solar plants on barren lands and that irrigation pumps of farmers were also connected to the solar energy. He added the electricity generated from this would be used by the farmers for their irrigation and they could sell the surplus power.
Referring to the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Center, he said it was one of the few hospitals in the country that has a world class infrastructure as well as a modern health facility and would be India’s largest cardiac hospital. He said Gujarat did a commendable work with setting up a network of modern hospitals, medical colleges and connecting every village with better health facilities.
The Prime Minister said Girnar mountain, the abode of Ma Ambe, and having Gorakhnath peak, Guru Dattatreya peak and a Jain temple, would become easily accessible with the inauguration of the world class Rope Way. He said more and more devotees and tourists would come there and would also provide job opportunities and economic opportunities to the people.
(Manas Dasgupta)