Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the country's longest rail-cum-road bridge over the Brahmaputra river in Assam's Bogibeel on Tuesday and said his government has changed the "dilly-dallying" work culture of the pervious dispensation to speed up stalled infrastructure projects.
Addressing a rally here, he said completion of projects within a given time frame is no longer confined to paper, but has become a reality, and because of this the infrastructure segment has got a new lease of life.
Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi, Chief Ministers of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh Sarbananda Sonowal and Pema Khandu respectively, Union Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain and Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma were present at the inauguration of the 4.94 km-long bridge.
Modi said, "If the earlier governments were known for their stalled projects, our government's identity is transportation to transformation and next generation infrastructure. We have found out hundreds of such projects worth Rs 12 lakh crore that were stalled for many years or work was very slow. If the same pace continued, the next century would have also passed."
At the rally, Modi said, "Many projects, including a hydro power project at Tuirial in Mizoram and Sikkim airport, have been completed. In Assam too, many such stalled projects are either completed or work is going on in full swing."
"We are emphasising on completion of such projects. Such developments will change the picture of the northeast. If northeast develops, the whole country progresses."
He said, "Corruption causes most damage to the poor and exploited segments. It (graft) is the biggest burden on the middle class. It breaks the spine of the country's development... That is why for the last four-and-half years, our government is fighting against corruption and blackmoney with full force."
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