Uttarakhand

• 22 Oct 2022

PM Lays Foundation Stone of Various Development Projects worth over Rs 3400 Crore in Uttarakhand

Why in News?

• On October 21, 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of various development projects worth more than Rs. 3400 crore for the state at a program organized in Mana village of Uttarakhand located on the border.

Key points

• These projects include two road widening projects from Mana to Mana Pass (NH 07) and Joshi math to Malari (NH107B), including two new ropeway projects at Gaurikund-Kedarnath and Govindghat-Hemkund Sahib.
• The Kedarnath ropeway will be around 9.7 km long, connecting Gaurikund with Kedarnath, reducing the travel time between the two places to about 30 minutes from the current 6-7 hours.
• The Hemkund ropeway will connect Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib, which will be around 12.4 km long and reduce the travel time from one day to just 45 minutes. The ropeway will also connect Ghangharia, which is the gateway to the Valley of Flowers National Park. Both these ropeways will be developed at a cumulative cost of about Rs 2430 crore.
• Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that it will be an eco-friendly mode of transport, which will provide safety and stability to the movement. The development of this critical infrastructure will promote religious tourism, which will accelerate economic development in the region and at the same time create many employment opportunities.
• During the program, he also laid the foundation stone of road widening projects worth about Rs 1000 crore. These include two road widening projects from Mana to Mana Pass and Joshimath to Malari. These will also prove to be strategically beneficial besides providing all-weather road connectivity and boosting connectivity in the border areas.
• Referring to 'Vocal for Local', the Prime Minister urged the countrymen to make a resolution that wherever they go, spend at least 5 percent of what they spend on travel on buying local products there. This will open the way for livelihood in all these areas.
• The Prime Minister, while stamping that Mana was the first village of the country instead of the last village of India by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, said that earlier the areas which were ignored as the end of the borders of the country, we started from there as the beginning of the prosperity of the country.