Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday sounded the poll bugle at Yadgir’s Kodekal village as he claimed that unlike the previous governments, which only identified the Kalyana Karnataka region as backward, the double engine government of BJP is investing and has plans for the development of the region.
Addressing a huge gathering after inaugurating projects worth Rs 10,863 crore, including the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system gates for Narayanpur Left Bank Canal (NLBC), laying foundation stones for the multi-village drinking water project and a greenfield project of laying six-lane national highway-156 that connects Chennai-Surat economic corridor, the prime minister said the previous government have done politics only based on caste, religion and vote bank. “However, our government is committed to the development of the backward districts and the result of this is that Yadgir is now among the top ten ranked in the 112 aspirational districts of India. The country cannot become a developed nation till every district in India grows.”
He said the next 25 years will be the ‘Amrit kaal’ of India and backward districts.
Water security
The prime minister said water security is as important as a border, coastal and internal security. “Our government is committed to supplying water to the parched lands, including those in Karnataka, through linking of rivers and improving groundwater table,” he said and added that his government aims at providing pure drinking water to every house.
“Before 2014 only three crore houses in rural areas had piped water connection. However, in the last three and half years (since the launching of the Jal Jeevan mission), our government has provided a connection to eight crore more houses in villages,” he said and added the double engine government is ensuring that water is supplied for agriculture, household and other basic facilities.
Citing a UN report, Modi said thanks to the Jal Jeevan mission, India is able to save one-and-half lakh infants every year.
Tur bowl
Modernisation of NLBC will help farmers in the tail end region of Yadgir, Kalaburagi and Vijaypur get sufficient water all through the year, he said and thanked the Tur farmers of the region for reducing India’s importing dependency on Tur.
The modernisation of the canals will help nearly 4.5 lakh hectare of land coming under irrigation, he said and both State and central government will ensure that more region gets adequate water by implementing irrigation project.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai thanked PM Modi for including the NLBC project under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) and providing Rs 1,011 crore for it. The SCADA system will enhance the water availability by 20% and more than one lakh hectares of tail-end fields which earlier did not get water will be irrigated now.
He said the double-engine government has decided to make the next 10 years an ‘irrigation decade’ for the state, as the governments will pump in adequate money to bring 10 lakh hectares of unirrigated land under cultivation.
NLBC is Asia’s largest SCADA-enabled project, he said.
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