Ahead of his Saharsha rally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced a big package at Ara for the development of Bihar and also took a dig at the state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for not utilising central funds.
While inaugurating several projects of National Highways and skill development at Ara, Mr. Modi in a dramatic way declared a Rs. 1.25 lakh crore package to change the “face and fate of Bihar.”
He also announced that apart from this amount several projects worth Rs. 40,000 crore are also underway in Bihar and “so the total amount for the package goes up to Rs 1,65,000 crore”.
“The previous Vajpayee government had given Rs. 10,000 crore package for the development of Bihar but the state government till 2013 could utlise only Rs 9,000 crore and Rs 1,000 crore remianed unspent”, said Mr. Modi.
“Similarly, the UPA government at the Centre too had given Rs. 12,000 crore to the state government after lot of persuations by the chief minister but surprisingly, out of that only Rs 4,000 crore was spent till today”, he said.
Announcing a special package, Mr. Modi said, "Today, I’ve come here to fulfil my promise which I’d made earlier to the people of Bihar. I’d promised to give a package of Rs. 50,000 crore but now I’ve to say Rs. 50,000 crore will not be enough for Bihar’s development."
Earlier, while taking a dig at Mr. Kumar’s displeasure over Mr. Modi’s remark over calling Bihar a BIMARU state, he said, “Though I welcome his (Mr Kumar) expressed displeasure over calling Bihar a BIMARU state but if the state has come out of this bracket, why does he always beg for the spacial package?” asked Mr Modi.
“Does anyone asks for food if having full stomach? Does anyone goes to doctor if he is hale and hearty?”, he asked amid roaring crowd at Ramna ground of Ara.
Mr. Modi also inaugurated 11 road projects and 22 skill development projects for the state at the Ara function.
While setting off his speech in Bhojpuri language, Mr. Modi also dwelt on the welfare of the farmers and development in agricluture.
“Both are complementary to each other for development and we cannot progress without each other’s growth. Our government has decided to take care of both”, said Mr Modi.
He also said that without development of eastern states such as Bihar, India could not progress.
http://editpag.blogspot.in