Modi to inaugurate host of schemes in Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Gujarat on Thursday on a day-long visit to inaugurate a clutch of schemes besides attending two events.

According to official sources, Modi will land in Surat around 10.15 a.m. on his way to Valsad in south Gujarat where he will dedicate over 1.15 lakh residential units built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (rural) in Jujwa region at a cost of Rs 1,727 crore.

Modi will also distribute skill certificates and appointment letters to 5,000 women, connecting them with industrial units under the Mukhya Mantri Gramoday Scheme.

The Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of a Rs 586 crore water supply scheme, Astol group water supply scheme, for the benefit of interior villages in Kaprada region in Valsad district. He will also address a public gathering here.

Modi will next inaugurate a Rs 275-crore 300-bed modern civil hospital in Saurashtra region's Junagadh district around 2 p.m. as well as a girls hostel of the new fisheries college at the Junagadh Agricultural University.

The Prime Minister will also dedicate a milk processing plant of Junagadh district cooperative of milk producers Federation at Sorath. In all, he will inaugurate public works worth around Rs 450 crore in Junagadh before addressing a public meeting.

He will then fly to state capital Gandhinagar to deliver the convocation address of the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University in the evening and distribute degree certificates and medals to students.

From there, Modi will reach Raj Bhavan around 6.30 p.m. to attend a meeting of the Somnath Temple Trust, of which former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel is the chairman and BJP President Amit Shah and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani are trustees.

Official sources said Advani is likely to be present at the meeting.

Before leaving for New Delhi, Modi is also expected to hold a meeting of state-level BJP leaders to possibly discuss strategies for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The BJP had in 2014 won all the 26 parliamentary seats in Gujarat and its target is to maintain the kitty in 2019.

--IANS

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