Balanced growth can take India to the pinnacle, says Modi

Ahead of the Assembly elections in four states later this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched and laid foundation stones for more than six projects across Jharkhand and Maharashtra. He had done a similar exercise in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir in the past week.

Addressing a gathering at Ranchi, Modi said a balanced development of all states was required to take India to the "pinnacle of development", and emphasised on stable governments to reach the goal. "If we want to take India to the pinnacle of development, then no part of the country should remain weak," Modi said, after laying the foundation stone for a slew of developmental projects and inauguration of some others.

"I see some economic activities in western India, but not in the eastern part or east-central region where people are waiting for development... poverty has shattered the lives of the poor," Modi added.

Modi was inaugurating the Ranchi-Dharamjaygarh-Sipat inter-regional transmission line built by the Power Grid Corporation, a Central transmission utility, at a total cost of Rs 1,600 crore. This line is the first inter-regional link between eastern region and western region. It would help augment inter-regional capacity of eastern region with western region, facilitating the exchange of surplus power between the two regions, depending on the availability of generation and load demand in each region.

Surplus power from eastern region can also be transferred over this link to the western region for onward transfer to southern or northern regions. The transmission line would play a significant role in the development of economic activity in eastern and western parts of the country with Jharkhand having a key role to play. Modi said Jharkhand has the potential to become the best, even many times more than Gujarat.

He also expressed regret that although Vajpayee had laid the foundation stone for the North Karanpura Super Thermal Power Project in Jharkhand 10 years ago, work did not progress. "Isn't it injustice to the people of Jharkhand?" Modi asked, adding, "I think it has been written in my fate to complete the unfinished work for which Vajpayee laid the foundation. This project will not only give electricity to Jharkhand but also to other parts of the country."

In his address, power minister Piyush Goyal said although the NTPC project in Jharkhand was started more than 10 years ago, due to a lack of coal linkage and several other issues, the power project could not take off. Referring to the underground fire in Jharia coalfield, Goyal said the Union government would provide Rs 100 crore to control it.

Inaugurating another project, Jasidih Oil Terminal, Modi said his government's aim was to create a network of gas pipelines in the country for utilisation of domestic consumption, transport, energy and industry.

Work on setting up Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Information Technology would begin soon, he said.

Spread over 26 acres, the Jasidih terminal, built at a cost of Rs 109 crore, is the first pipeline-fed terminal of Jharkhand, Indian Oil Corporation said in a press statement.

The terminal would handle petrol, diesel and kerosene supplies to the markets of Bokaro, Shanbad, Giridih, Deoghar, Jamtara, Godda, Dumka, Pakur and Sahibganj. The supplies to these areas are currently being met from Dhanbad and Ranchi depots.

Visiting poll-bound Maharashtra for a second time in less than a week, Modi laid the foundation stone for a metro project in Nagpur. The ceremony came just a day after the Union Cabinet cleared a Rs 8,860 crore metro project, the state's second after Mumbai, in Union transport and shipping minister Nitin Gadkari's constituency. Apart from laying the foundation stone for Pardi flyover in Nagpur city, Modi also dedicated to the nation the 1,000-Mw Mouda Super Thermal Power Project Stage-1 in pre-election bonanza to the state where Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is seeking to unseat the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government after 15 years.

The 38-km-long Nagpur metro project, scheduled to be completed by March 2018, will be funded on equal sharing basis between the state and the Centre, with the latter contributing Rs 1,555 crore as equity and subordinate debt.

In his speeches at Mauda and Nagpur, Modi said corruption is a "disease and sin" and launched a veiled attack on the Congress without naming the party. "Corruption has destroyed the country. For some, it has become a way of life. This disease has to be banished; we have to get rid of this sin," he said, adding now some political parties were worried because of our attempt to stamp out corruption.

Resolving to provide "power to all", Modi referred to the stress he had laid on hydropower during his recent visits to Bhutan and Nepal, as well as Jammu & Kashmir.

Recalling the plight of debt-ridden farmers in Vidarbha, some of whom were forced to commit suicide, Modi asked the farming community to avail of the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Jandhan Yojana, which is slated to be launched on August 28. The scheme, which would include a bank account, a debit card and an insurance amount of Rs 1 lakh would help provide some "guarantee of security" to farmers and help them avoid debt trap laid by money lenders, Modi said.