Every penny dispatched from Delhi was reaching its rightful beneficiary under the BJP government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated in Bundelkhand on Saturday.
Under the previous governments, farmers in the region were deprived of the benefits of the multi-crore Bundelkhand package, he remarked.
Mr. Modi was in Chitrakoot to lay the foundation stone for the Bundelkhand Expressway that will come up at a cost of ₹15,000 crore. The 296-km long expressway would pass through the districts of Chitrakoot, Banda, Hamirpur and Jalaun, and connect the drought-prone region to the national capital through the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and the Yamuna Expressway.
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Mr. Modi said the expressway would alter lives in Bundelkhand, “creating thousands of employment opportunities” and link the region to big cities. It would “speed up” the Defence Corridor that's coming up in the region. Bundelkhand would be known for making India self-reliant in manufacture of arms and ammunition.
“The Bundelkhand region is going to become a big centre of Make in India”, Mr. Modi said in a speech bereft of any political attacks or reference to burning issues such as the violence in Delhi or the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Instead, he listed the policies and schemes brought by his government for farmers.
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Mr. Modi announced that over ₹50,000 crore had been directly deposited into the bank accounts of around 8.5 crore farmer families in the country under the PM-KISAN scheme in the last one year. Of this sum, ₹12,000 crore was deposited in the accounts of 2 crore farmers in U.P. itself, he said, emphasizing that this was done without the involvement of any intermediaries, without any recommendation or discrimination or bribes.
In Chitrakoot, Mr. Modi also launched 10,000 Farmers Producers Organizations all over the country. Listing the FPOs and the Defence Corridor, he said his government was moving forward with the slogan of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’.
