National Advisory Council chairperson and Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi has praised the Rajasthan Government and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot for ensuring progress and development at a fast speed.
She said that providing drinking water supply in rural areas should be seen as a major achievement of the state government, and added that she was happy to know that Nagaur District would starting getting potable water with the completion of the project.
Gandhi was speaking after laying the foundation stone of the biggest rural drinking water project of the country under the Rajasthan Rural Drinking Water and Fluoride Eradication Project in Jayal about 50 kms. from Nagaur district headquarters.
Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the project by pressing the remote button. She said that potable water from the Indira Gandhi Canal would reach every home in the district in the coming days.
Gandhi said that Rajasthan has to face the situation of famine frequently, but the State Government had combat this challenge with the support of the brave people of this state.
She said that drinking had been made available in more than 100 cities and over 18,000 villages in the state.
She asked the Chief Minister to ensure that this project was completed on time and drinking water provided to the people of the district.
Gandhi said that many innovative schemes had been started in Rajasthan through which the people of the state had started getting direct benefit and effort been made to bring about a revolutionary change in the life of the people. She said that some schemes which are connected with each person have become an example.
She said that the Union Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh was doing exemplary work as several schemes had been started keeping in focus the welfare of people. She said that on one hand efforts had been made to make women self reliant, while on the other hand the Dalits, people of backward classes, farmers had been provided strength.
She expressed the hope that the Rural Drinking Water Project would not only quench the thirst the people of Nagaur but would also provide relief from the problem of scarcity of water in Rajasthan.
Gandhi said that a new land acquisition bill had been presented in the Parliament with the view that farmers get right compensation for the land. Similarly a food security bill was also being brought so that no individual sleep empty stomach.
Presiding over the function, Gehlot announced that 30 percent concession would be provided to women in roadways buses fare, and for this, the state government would provide Rs.100 crores to the Rajasthan State Roadways. He also announced that a government college would be opened in Jayal as per the demand of the people.
Welcoming Sonia Gandhi on behalf of the people of Rajasthan, Gehlot said imagining potable water for Nagaur was distant dream, but today, this dream was being realised with the stone laying foundation by Gandhi.
He said former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had initiated efforts to bring the water of the Himalayas to Rajasthan via the Indira Gandhi Canal in Jodhpur.
He said that Rs.3000 crore project is now being started in Nagaur district in the second phase. He informed that big dams were being constructed to provide potable under ground water to Bhilwara, Jaipur, Nawan, Barmer, Hanumangarh, Bharatpur and nearby places. He said that different projects costing Rs.9500 crore were being completed in time bound manner in the state.
Gehlot said that the state government is fulfilling all the promises it had made to the people.
Electricity tariff for farmers had not been increased and the state government had provided Rs.5000 crores to electricity companies for this purpose.
Similarly, various social security schemes had been started for poor, backward and needy people with the view improve their standard of living.
He said that Mukhaya Mantri BPL Gramin Awas Yojana, different pension schemes, interest free loan scheme, Mukhaya Mantri Free Medicine and Investigation Scheme, Rajiv Gandhi Digital Vidhayarthi Scheme, food security scheme and several schemes had been started in the state.
State PHED Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh said the people of Nagaur would get relief from the saline water and they would get potable water in the coming days. He informed that several drinking water projects costing Rs.20,000 crores were being implemented in the state.
The Chief Minister had allocated Rs.7500 crores for drinking water projects in the budget of this financial year, he added.
Nagaur MP Dr. Jyoti Mirdha and Rajasthan's Minister of State for Women and Child Development Manju Meghwal also expressed their views on the occasion.
Former Ministers Dr. Chandrabhan, Dr. C.P.Joshi, Gurudas Kamat, Choudhary Virendra Singh, Rajsamand MP Gopal Singh Idwa and the Principal Secretary PHED Purusottam Agrawal were present on the occasion.
