"Modi never forgets us," said several villagers, who believe that he had taken personal initiative to improve their income and standard of living during his 13-year-long tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister.
Modi, who was present at the inaugural session of the conference yesterday, will also be there for the remaining two days.
The local people have once again found a reason to believe that Modi took the decision to hold this event at Kutch to put the place on the world tourist map.
"Till now, no one wanted to come in this desert. Now, it has become a famous tourist spot after Modiji (Narendra Modi) started Rann Utsav here. As a result, thousands of villagers are able to sell their handicraft items through over 100 stalls at Dhordo. We are also selling sweets at such stalls. Locals of 56 villages near Khavda are reaping the benefits of this unique initiative of Modi," Salim Osama, a cattle rearer of Khavda, said.
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This year's 'Rann Utsav' is scheduled to start from December 24 and will last till first week of February. Last year, over 15 lakh tourists visited the tent city in Dhordo, around 10 km from Khavda.
"These stalls are only given to locals turn by turn, so that all the families gets a chance to sell their Kutchi embroidery cloths, handicrafts and sweets. These stalls generate very good revenue for locals. Articles and items worth crores of rupees are sold there and then money goes directly to villagers," said Deelipsinh Rana, a senior officer of state Information Department in Kutch.
Other than Rann Utsav, locals believe that Modi's love
for Kutch also reflects in other initiatives taken by state government.
"For last few years, we are not facing any scarcity of water or grass for our cattle. Due to very good road connectivity, we are able to sell our milk to nearby towns easily. All this happened because Modi loves us. That's why he keeps coming here to oversee the development work. For us, he is still our CM," said Kaadar Jumma, a local cattle rearer of Khavda.