Modi launches schemes worth Rs 21,000 cr in Gujarat as elections near

Prime Minister inaugurates work to build Railway projects, dedicates houses built for the poor.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched schemes worth Rs 21,000 crore in Gujarat, hardly six months away from assembly elections in his home state in December.

He laid the foundation stone for Railway projects worth more than Rs 16,000 crore—works that include a new 357-km long Palanpur-Madar section of a dedicated freight corridor (DFC). He laid foundation stones for the redevelopment of Surat, Udhna, Somnath and Sabarmati railway stations.

Modi dedicated 138,000 houses worth Rs 1,800 crore in urban areas and Rs 1,530 crore in rural areas: they were constructed as part of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme.

He inaugurated schemes across verticals at a public meeting called 'Gujarat Gaurav Abhiyan' in Vadodara. The meeting also saw the launch of projects in railways, housing and education in central Gujarat.

Urban poor families got 750,000 houses and 450,000 middle class families got help in constructing homes from the central government, Modi told the meeting.

He launched the ‘Mukhyamantri Matrushakti Yojana’ nutrition scheme for pregnant and lactating mothers. With an outlay of Rs 800 crore, the scheme will see monthly supply of 2 kg of chickpeas, 1 kg of yellow split pigeon peas (toor dal) and 1 kg of edible oil free of cost from Anganwadi Centres for three years.

"Malnutrition was a big challenge here two decades ago when Gujarat gave me the opportunity to serve. Since then we started working in this direction one after the other, whose fruitful results are being seen today," said Modi on Saturday, referring to his tenure as the state’s chief minister.

The Central University of Gujarat is also set to receive its own long pending permanent campus with Modi laying the foundation stone for the same in Kundhela village near Vadodara. The permanent campus of the central university will be constructed at a cost of around Rs 425 crore and will be able to carry a capacity of over 2,500 students.