Haldwani: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of 23 projects worth over Rs 17500 crore in Uttarakhand today.
Among the 23 projects, the foundation stone were laid for 17 projects worth over Rs 14100 crore. These Projects cover a wide array of sectors across the state including irrigation, road, housing, health infrastructure, industry, sanitation, drinking water supply among others. Modi inaugurated 6 projects including multiple road widening projects, a hydropower project in Pithoragarh and projects to improve sewerage network in Nainital. The cumulative cost of the projects inaugurated was over Rs. 3400 crore.
The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the Lakhwar Multipurpose Project which was first conceived in 1976 and was pending for many years. “The Lakhwar project, which has started here in Uttarakhand today, has the same history. The project was first thought of in 1976. Today after 46 years, our government has laid the foundation stone for its work. This delay is nothing short of a crime,” he said. To be built at the cost of about Rs 5750 crore, the Lakhwar project will enable irrigation of about 34,000 hectare additional land, produce 300 MW hydro power and supply drinking water to the six states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan..
Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of Rs 8700 crore road sector projects that would improve connectivity in remote, rural and border areas. The projects included four laning of 85 kilometre Moradabad-Kashipur Road to be built at a cost of over Rs 4000 crore; two laning of 22 Kilometre stretch of Gadarpur-Dineshpur-Madkota-Haldwani road (SH-5) and 18 kilometre stretch of Kiccha to Pantnagar (SH-44); construction of 8 kilometre long Khatima bypass in Udham Singh Nagar; construction of four lane National Highway (NH109D) being built at a cost of over 175 crore. These road projects would improve connectivity of Garhwal, Kumaon and Terai region and also the connectivity between Uttarakhand and Nepal. Improved connectivity would also benefit industrial areas in Rudrapur and Lalkuan besides improving the accessibility of Jim Corbett National Park.
Further, Modi laid foundation stones of multiple road projects all across the state under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna that included laying of 133 rural roads with a total length of 1157 kilometres at cost of more than Rs 625 crore and construction of 151 bridges at a cost of about Rs 450 crore.
The road projects inaugurated by the Prime Minister also included a 99 kilometre road widening project from Nagina to Kashipur (NH-74) built at the cost of over Rs 2500 crore and projects to widen road at three stretches in the strategic Tanakpur-Pithoragarh road (NH 125) built under all-weather road project at the cost of over 780 crore. The three stretches are from Chyurani to Ancholi (32 kilometre), from Bilkhet to Champawat (29 kilometre) and from Tilon to Chyurani (28 kilometre).
The strategic Tanakpur-Pithoragarh road will now have all-weather connectivity that will facilitate the unhindered movement of the army to the border areas and improved connectivity for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
The PM also laid the foundation stone of AIIMS Rishikesh satellite centre at Udham Singh Nagar and Jagjivan Ram Government Medical College at Pithoragarh. These satellite centres would provide “world-class” medical facilities. These two hospitals are being built at a cost of about Rs 500 crores and Rs 450 crore respectively. The improved medical infrastructure will not only help the people of Kumaon and Terai regions but also the bordering areas of Uttar Pradesh.
Modi laid the foundation stone of Aroma Park at Kashipur and Plastic Industrial Park at Sitarganj and multiple other initiatives in housing, sanitation and drinking water supply across the state. About 2400 homes will be constructed for the economically weaker section in the cities of Sitarganj and Kashipur in Udham Singh Nagar district. These homes will be built at a cumulative cost of more than 170 crores under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (Urban).
To improve the tap water supply in the rural areas of the state, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of 73 water supply schemes across 13 districts of the state under the Jal Jeevan Mission. The schemes will cumulatively cost around Rs 1250 crore and will benefit more than 1.3 lakh rural households of the state. Further, to ensure regular supply of quality water in urban areas of Haridwar and Nainital, the Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of water supply schemes for these two cities. The schemes will provide about 14500 connections in Haridwar and more than 2400 connections in Haldwani, benefitting about one lakh population of Haridwar and about 12000 population of Haldwani.
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of a 41 acre Aroma Park at Kashipur and a 40 acre Plastic Industrial Park at Sitarganj. The two projects will be developed by State Infrastructure & Industrial Development Corporation Uttarakhand Limited (SIIDCUL) at a cumulative cost of about 100 crore.
Modi also inaugurated two sewage treatment plants of 7 MLD and 1.5 MLD capacity constructed at the cost of about 50 crore at Ramnagar, Nainital. Also, he laid the foundation stone of the construction of nine sewage treatment plants (STPs) in Udham Singh Nagar, to be built at the cost of about 200 crore; and a 78 crore project for upgradation of Sewerage system in Nainital.
The Prime Minister also inaugurated the 5 MegaWatt capacity Suringad-II run of the river hydroelectric project built by Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam (UJVN) Limited at Munsyari in Pithoragarh district built at a cost of about Rs 50 crore.
The PM said modern infrastructure growing in Uttarakhand, Char Dham project, new rail routes being built, will make this decade the decade of Uttarakhand. He also referred to strides made by Uttarakhand in the fields of hydro power, Industry, tourism, natural agriculture and connectivity that will make this decade the decade of Uttarakhand.
– global bihari bureau
