'Linking pol to development hurting India;infra key to growth'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said linking politics to development has been the biggest obstacle in India's growth.
The key to progress lies in robust infrastructure and efforts have led to rolling out of stuck projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore, he added.
Asking states to create a sound infrastructure in order to ensure that development percolates down to the down-trodden and the poor, Modi cited Korea's example as to how it achieved economic prosperity through creating a network of highways.
The Prime Minister was addressing a public rally at Rajiv Gandhi Education City, Sonipat in Haryana after laying the foundation stone of three major highway projects in the state - Western Peripheral Expressway, Eastern Peripheral Expressway and eight-laning of Highway section from Mukarba Chowk (Delhi) to Panipat.

Modi said, "In today's era, infrastructure is the first and foremost priority for development. Be it power, water, road and wherever infrastructure reaches, development gets accelerated, a big change comes in quality of life when such facilities come.
"But most of the times in our country, governments remain in dilemma. They feel if any voter gets benefited, then there will be benefits in elections. But if roads are made, people feel 'usme kya hai' (what is a big deal in it)... It is the work of the government... 'mera kya hua' (what benefit I got out of it).

"And this dilemma has been there for years in our country, and perhaps is the biggest stumbling block in the country's development."

He said it should be the state's priority to ensure that benefits of development should reach the doors of dalits and down-trodden in the society and their equal participation in development.
"But if equitable development is to be undertaken and to make people self dependent, it is essential to focus on infrastructure," he said.
Citing how Korea achieved economic prosperity, Modi said, "... Korea is a good example, see how it has progressed by leaps and bounds. Their rulers started a modern highway cutting through the country, but there was much controversy as it was reasoned at that time that the nation is poor, it does not have schools, hospitals and spending so much money on roads was not a wise step...

"... But rulers of that country at that time, still went ahead and did this and it changed the fate of entire Korea."
Modi said during the last five-six months he had reviewed pending projects in meetings with the Chief Ministers through video conferencing and stuck projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore could be rolled out.