Amit Shah: Northeast has emerged as country’s growth engine

Guwahati, December 26

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday asserted that the Northeast has emerged as the growth engine of the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said, “Modi considers the Northeast as the focal point for the nation’s development and has visited the region 30 times in the past six years and each time, he has come with some gifts.”

Speaking at a programme to launch various projects, Shah said Assam has embarked on a journey of peace and development under Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“Assam was earlier known for agitations and violence, but Sonowal and Sarma have unified the people of the state and the region with the rest of the country by upholding and promoting heritage and traditions,” he said.

Shah said NDA’s triumph in the just-concluded Bodoland Territorial Council polls was like a semifinal before the Assembly elections in which it would emerge winners with huge majority.

He said all militant organisations in the state have surrendered and returned to the mainstream. Shah laid the foundation stone of a medical college and nine law institutes, besides launching two other projects in Assam.

All four projects were launched centrally from the Kumar Bhaskar Barman Kshetra at Amingaon here in the presence of Sonowal, Union Minister for Food Processing Rameshwar Teli, Sarma and others.

The Union Home Minister laid the foundation stone of Guwahati’s second medical college and hospital which will be set up by amalgamating the Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital and the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi Chest Hospital at an estimated amount of Rs 755 crore, officials said.

Shah also laid the foundation stone of nine law colleges to be set up at Diphu, Silchar, Dhubri, Dibrugarh, North Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Nalbari, Rangia and Raha.

He launched the development and beautification project of Batadrava “Than” at Borduwa in Nagaon district, the birthplace of 15th century Vaishnav reformer-saint Srimanta Sankardeva, at an estimated cost of Rs 188 crore.

He also launched the third phase of the “Asom Darshan” scheme to protect places of worship of different faiths. In this phase, 8,000 “Naamghars” (Vaishnav prayer and community halls), which are over 50-year old will be given Rs 2.5 lakh each. — PTI