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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday dedicated the Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river to the nation, terming it a project that had faced more hurdles than any other public infrastructure project in the world.
In his address to a gathering of farmers and villagers from different districts of the State, Modi recalled that when the World Bank denied funds for the project, religious leaders and temples came forward to fund it.
“The World Bank said it would not fund the project. It alleged that the project would ruin the environment,” Modi said at a public rally about 50 km from the dam in Dabhoi.
But, he added, “our resolve was so strong that our temples came forward to fund the project.”
In a veiled attack on the opponents of the dam project, led by activist Medha Patker, Modi said, “I am well aware of all those who tried to create hurdles to this project.”
But, he said, “I will not name them as I do not want to do politics around this... Gujarat took the lead to complete this project. And it had to pay a price and face allegations,” the Prime Minister added.
The dam, Modi stated, is an “engineering miracle” that will propel regional growth.
The Prime Minister, accompanied by Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, Gujarat Governor OP Kohli and Union Cabinet Minister Nitin Gadkari, performed puja and offered flowers to the river as a symbolic inauguration of the dam.
After the inauguration of the dam, the Prime Minister also opened a Tribal Freedom Fighters’ Museum at Dabhoi.
During his second visit within a week to the poll-bound State, Modi paid tribute to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Dr BR Ambedkar.
“Had these two leaders lived longer, the fortunes of this western region of the country would have been far better,” he said.
The Prime Minister arrived in Gandhinagar on Saturday night; his long day in Gujarat dawned with a visit to his mother Hiraba at her residence in Gandhinagar to seek her blessings on his 67th birthday.
Later in the day, the Prime Minister inaugurated the newly built APMC market yard at Amreli and addressed leaders and members of cooperative societies. Modi encouraged farmers to take up honeybee cultivation and usher in a “sweet revolution”.
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