Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme in jangla village of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh.

Mr. Modi arrived in Bijapur district this morning to launch various projects. Bijapur is among 115 poorest districts in the country which have been selected on the basis of their poor indicators in the field of education, health, basic infrastructure and financial inclusion.

Prime Minister also inaugurated the first phase of the Bastar Internet scheme under which a 40,000-km-long network of fibre optics cable would be spread across the seven districts of the tribal region. The districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar, Kanker, Kondagaon, Sukma and Dantewada.

Prime Minister also launched the Van Dhan Yojana. This scheme aims to empower the tribals by teaching them skills for value addition to the forest produce.

Mr Modi also inaugurated a new rail line and a passenger train between Gudum and Bhanupratapur, bringing north Bastar region on railways' map. The Prime Minister also inaugurated bank branches in seven villages and visited rural BPO centre developed under the India BPO promotion scheme. He also laid foundation stones for road and bridge projects worth over 1,700 crore rupees.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh chaired the programme while Union Health Minister J P Nadda was the chief guest on the occasion.