Union Home Minister Amit Shah inaugurated the 4-lane Kamakhyanagar-Duburi highway in Odisha, which has been widened at a cost of Rs. 761 crore, and laid the foundation stone for widening and strengthening the road from Motar to Baner via Ladugaon at a cost of Rs. 34 crore at a function held in Bhubaneshwar today.

Several dignitaries including Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Union Minister of Education and Skill Development Dharmendra Pradhan were present on the occasion.

The home minister said that the widening of the 51 km Kamakhyanagar-Duburi highway to four lanes will be important in connecting the mineral-rich Angul and Dhenkanal districts of Odisha with the rest of the state and the country through the National Highway.

The widening and strengthening of the road from Moter in Kalahandi to Baner via Ladugaon has also started. The work on this 15 kilometres long road will be done at a cost of Rs 34 crore, he added.

Amit Shah said that in the last 9 years, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a lot of importance has been given to infrastructure development in the country and there is no shortage of funds for this. Prime Minister Modi believes that the country cannot develop without the development of infrastructure, he added.

Shah said that the Modi government has accelerated the pace of construction of highways by adopting a scientific approach for faster toll collection through fast tag, efficiency in land acquisition process, speedy resolution of disputes, emphasis on information technology and finding alternative methods of funding.

Shah pointed out that the Modi government has started many development projects for Odisha which have given a boost to the state’s economy. He said that in 2014 Prime Minister Modi had said that until the eastern part of the country is developed, the country cannot be fully developed. He said that when we bring the eastern and western regions of the country on equal footing on the scale of development, then only can the country develop. With this in mind, the Modi government has always given importance to the eastern region and has given special attention to Odisha.

Shah said that once upon a time this entire region was affected by Naxalism, but in the last 9 years, the Modi government, along with the state government, has successfully tried to crack down on Naxalism and it has yielded results. The Modi government is determined to fight a strong battle against Naxalism, he added.

He also said while the previous government at the Centre had given only Rs 1,14,000 crore to Odisha under the devolution and Grant-in-aid, the Modi government has given Rs 4,57,000 crore under both the heads.

In addition, the Modi government has done the work of increasing the total allocation from Rs 3 lakh crore to Rs 18 lakh crore which is more than 6 times. He said that Prime Minister Modi gave Rs 10,000 crores for the railways in Odisha, provided the Indian Oil pipeline  at a cost of Rs 800 crores, built IIT-Bhubaneswar, opened Indian Science Education and Research Centre, ESI Hospital Bhubaneswar was upgraded and 1500 bedded AIIMS Bhubaneswar was also established in the state.

Amit Shah said that the Narendra Modi government does not want to leave any stone unturned for the development of Odisha. He said that under the Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana, 40 lakh farmers of the state got benefited, under Jal Jeevan Mission pure drinking water reached 54 lakh houses, 90 lakh toilets were built, 3.25 Crore people are getting 5 kg rice per person per month free of cost, 6 lakh Ujjwala connections have been given and the work of building houses for 17 lakh villagers has also been done by the Narendra Modi government.

He said that Odisha is a natural disaster prone state but Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has implemented every disaster management initiative of the Government of India. Along with this, the Odisha government itself has taken many new initiatives in the field of disaster management and has told the whole country that when the central and state governments work together, natural disasters can also be mitigated.

“Thousands of people had lost their lives in the cyclone that hit Odisha in 1999, but today whenever a cyclone hits Odisha, there are zero casualties, which is appreciated all over the world. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made disaster management an important part of governance through NDRF and NDMA and the Odisha government has given full support in this,”  Shah said.