Country paid 100 times more for negligence of previous government: PM Modi’s dig at Akhilesh Yadav

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today visited Balrampur district in Uttar Pradesh where he inaugurated the Saryu Nahar National Project to provide assured water for irrigation of over 14 lakh hectares of land and benefit about 29 lakh farmers of the region. The project has been built at a total cost of over Rs 9,800 crore, out of which more than Rs 4,600 crore was provisioned in the last four years. Taking a swipe at earlier dispensations, Modi said the work on the project had begun in 1978 but was never completed before his government took measures to complete it.

“If it is government money, then why should I care for it – This thinking has become the biggest obstacle in the balanced and all-round development of the country. This thinking delayed the Saryu canal project. Work on this project started about 50 years ago and it has been completed today,” said PM Modi.

PM Modi said that when the work started on this project, its cost was less than Rs 100 crore but today it has been completed after spending about Rs 10 thousand crores. “The country has already paid 100 times more for the negligence of the previous governments,” said PM Modi.

The Prime Minister said that utilizing the water of the country’s rivers and providing adequate water to farmers’ fields is one of the top priorities of the government. “The completion of the Saryu Canal National Project is proof that when the thinking is honest, the work is also strong,” said PM Modi.

PM Modi said that the work that could not have been completed in the last five decades has been completed in the last five years. He said that there is a double engine government and this is the speed of the double engine government’s work.

Hitting out at the Samajwadi Party-led previous government, PM Modi said, “Those who were in the government earlier – they used to give protection to the mafia. Today Yogi ji’s government is busy cleaning the mafia. That’s why the people of UP say – the difference is clear.”

He said that those in previous governments used to support the Bahubalis while the Yogi government is engaged in empowering the poor, downtrodden, backward and tribal.

PM Modi also paid tribute to India’s first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and termed it a great loss for every Indian. “General Bipin Rawat, in the days to come, will see his India moving forward with new resolutions – the task of increasing the security of the country’s borders and work to strengthen border infrastructure,” said PM Modi. He added that though India is in pain today, the pace of the progress won’t suffer.