Narendra Modi in Gujarat: Prayer at Dwarka temple, visit to birthplace on cards

Besides offering prayer at Dwarakadheesh temple and laying foundation stones for development projects, Narendra Modi will also visit his birthplace at Vadnagar for the first time as the prime minister during his two-day visit to Gujarat.

 

IndiaToday.in  | Edited by Prabhash K Dutta
New Delhi | Ahmedabad, October 7, 2017 | UPDATED 10:21 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-day tour of the election-bound state of Gujarat. He reached Jamnagar this morning. This is the second visit of the PM to Gujarat in less than a month. Narendra Modi was in Gujarat on September 17 to inaugurate the the Sardar Sarovar Dam on Narmada river.

Narendra Modi will offer prayer at the famous Dwarkadheesh temple at Dwarka, where Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited recently as he kicked off his election campaign in Gujarat. The state will go polls by the end of this year.

At Dwarka, Narnedra Modi will also lay the foundation stone of the for four-lane cable stayed signature bridge between Okha and Beyt Dwarka to be built at a cost of Rs 962.42 crore. He will also inaugurate a number of projects during his visit to his home state.

PM NARENDRA MODI IN GUJARAT: THINGS TO KNOW
  1. Other projects for which foundation stone will be laid include four-laning of 116.24 kms of Porbandar-Dwarka section of NH-51 and four-laning of 93.56 km of Gadu-Porbandar section of NH-51. He will also address a public meeting after laying down foundation stone.
  2. From Dwarka, Narendra Modi will go to Hirasar in Rajkot district where he will lay foundation stone for a greenfield airport, 20 kms from Rajkot city. He will also lay foundation stone in Chotila for six-laning of 201-km Ahmedabad-Rajkot section of NH-47 at a cost of Rs 2,893 crore.
  3. Narendra Modi will also dedicate a fully automatic milk processing and packaging plant and a drinking water distribution pipeline for Joravarnagar and Ratanpur area of Surendranagar, a PMO statement said in Delhi. He will address a public meeting there too.
  4. Narendra Modi will then proceed to Gandhinagar where he will dedicate the newly-constructed building of IIT Gandhinagar, and launch the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (PMGDISHA).
  5. The PMGDISHA is aimed at imparting digital literacy to citizens in rural areas, the PMO said, adding it will provide access to information, knowledge, education, and healthcare. It will create avenues for livelihood generation and financial inclusion through digital payments, the statement said.
  6. On Sunday morning, he will visit Vadnagar, his birthplace in Mehasana district where he grew up. This will be Narendra Modi's first visit to Vadnagar since he became the prime minister in 2014.
  7. Narendra Modi will then inaugurate a medical college and hospital having total bed capacity of 650. He will also launch the Intensified Mission Indradhanush, to accelerate progress towards the goal of full immunization coverage. The mission will provide greater focus on urban areas and other pockets of low immunization coverage, the statement said.
  8. The prime minister will also distribute e-tablets to health workers to mark the launch of ImTeCHO (Innovative mobile-phone Technology for Community Health Operations).
  9. The ImTeCHO is aimed at improving the performance of community health workers ASHAs (Accredited Social Health Activists) through better supervision, support and motivation for increasing coverage of proven maternal, newborn and child health interventions among resource-poor settings in India.
  10. The same afternoon, the prime minister will reach Bharuch and lay the foundation stone for Bhadbhut Barrage, to be built over the Narmada River, the statement said. He will flag off the Antyodaya Express between Udhna (Surat, Gujarat), and Jaynagar (Bihar).
  11. Narendra Modi will also unveil plaques to mark the laying of foundation stone, and inauguration of various plants of Gujarat Narmada Fertilizer Corporation. He will also address a public meeting tat Bharuch before returning to Delhi.
  12. Meanwhile, there is excitement in Modi's ancestral village over his first visit as the PM. There is a lot of excitement in Vadnagar as well as nearby villages such as Badarpur and Molipur over the visit, the prime minister's elder brother Somabhai Modi said.
  13. Ahead of the prime minister's visit, the administration here is busy working on roads and ensuring cleanliness. Fire engines have also been deployed inside the railway station for cleaning of trees on its premises.
  14. Somabhai Modi said that his father had built a house in Vadnagar in 1949 but it was destroyed in the 2001 earthquake, following which they sold the land. He said the family has constructed a shelter home for the elderly in the village.
  15. The prime minister's school teacher, Dr Prahlad Patel, said he hopes to meet Narendra Modi who writes letters to him occasionally. There will be an exhibition of photos at the canteen of the local railway station where the prime minister's father used to prepare tea. Narendra Modi in his childhood would often help his father and paternal uncle, and also deliver tea to train passengers.

(With PTI inputs)