Country doesn’t need shortcut politics, it needs sustainable development: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said India needed sustainable development and not “shortcut politics,” and alleged that some parties were trying to destroy the country’s economy.

Addressing a gathering after launching and inaugurating various projects worth Rs 75,000 crore here, Modi said a narrow approach towards development will provide only limited opportunities. He also said that infrastructure development in the country in the last eight years has been done with a human touch.

The prime minister inaugurated the first phase of the Nagpur-Mumbai Samruddhi Expressway that connects Nagpur and the temple town of Shirdi in Ahmednagar district, flagged off the Nagpur-Bilaspur Vande Bharat Express train, inaugurated the first phase of the Nagpur Metro Rail project and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Nagpur.

“A developed India can become a reality through united strength, progress and development of all states. When we have a narrow approach towards development, opportunities are also limited,” he said.

“In the last eight years, we have changed the mindset and approach with ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas’ (everyone’s support, trust and efforts),” he said.

Modi said the projects launched and inaugurated in Nagpur presented a holistic vision of development.

He urged people to remain cautious against politicians indulging in shortcut politics, looting taxpayers’ money and grabbing power through false promises. “Country’s development cannot take place through shortcut politics,” he said.

“Some political parties are trying to destroy the country’s economy and people should expose such politicians and parties. My appeal to all political leaders is to focus on sustainable development instead of shortcut politics. You can win elections with sustainable development,” he said.

He said, earlier, taxpayers’ money used to get wasted in corruption and vote bank politics and added that his government was focusing on holistic and modern infrastructure development which is “future ready.”

Modi described 11 development projects inaugurated by him as “jewels” of Maharashtra. He said the double-engine government was steering development in the state.

The PM slammed the previous governments citing the example of the Gosikhurd dam project in the Bhandara district, which got delayed for three decades. “But after the double engine government came to power the Gosikhurd project is nearing completion now,” he said.

Deprived sections of the society were a priority for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, he said, adding that sustainable development and sustainable solution paved the way for the party’s big win in the just-concluded Assembly polls in Gujarat.

He said the Ayushman Bharat scheme was an example of social infrastructure development, while the Jan Dhan Yojana was an example of financial infrastructure development.

“Today is Sankashthi Chaturthi. All good work is started after offering prayers to Lord Ganesh. I offer my salutations to Tekdi’s Ganpati bappa,” Modi said in Marathi at the beginning of his speech.

Modi inaugurated the first phase of the Nagpur Metro rail project by taking a ride in the train between Zero Mile Freedom Park and Khapri stations with some students of the AIIMs, with whom he interacted on the way.

Before boarding the train, he visited an exhibition on the project at the Zero Mile station. After inaugurating the Samruddhi Expressway, he travelled on a 10-km stretch in a car.

The length of the total project, officially named ‘Hindu Hrudaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg’, will be 701 km. The stretch under the first phase is 520 km long.

He also laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Nagpur and Ajni railway stations.

Under the project, the Nagpur railway station will be equipped with an enhanced waiting area and sitting capacity, a parking facility for two-wheelers and cars, 30 lifts, and 31 escalators to provide a world-class travel experience to passengers and boost socio-economic development in and around the station.

He laid the foundation stone of the National Institute of One Health, Nagpur and Nag river pollution abatement project.

He also remotely inaugurated the Central Institute of Petrochemicals Engineering and Technology (CIPET) at Chandrapur and the Centre for Research Management and Control of Hemoglobinopathies at Chandrapur.