India should aspire for AIIMS-like healthcare service in its road to be $3 trillion economy: PM Modi

Addressing a public meeting in the city after formally inaugurating AIIMS Rajkot, the first in Gujarat, Modi said, “In AIIMS, you will find the answer as to why people have unwavering faith in Modi’s guarantee. I had guaranteed Rajkot to set up Gujarat’s first AIIMS. I had laid the foundation stone three years ago and today I inaugurated it. Your sevak (servant) has thus honoured the guarantee.”

Modi laid the foundation stone for the permanent campus of AIIMS Rajkot in Para Pipaliya village on the outskirts of Rajkot city on December 31, 2020.

Along with AIIMS Rajkot, he also virtually inaugurating four other AIIMS — in Bathinda of Punjab, Raebareli of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyani in West Bengal and Mangalagiri in Andhra Pradesh, developed at Rs 925 crore, Rs 823 crore, Rs 1,618 crore and Rs 1,754 crore respectively. AIIMS Rajkot was developed at the cost of Rs 1,195 crore.

He also thanked Rajkot residents as he reminisced that it was exactly 22 years ago, on February 24, 2002, when he took oath as an MLA for the first time in his life. “Generations have changed but love of people of Rajkot for me has remained intact,” he said, adding winning the first election in Rajkot marked a significant step in his political journey and that today’ entire country is showering blessings on him.

The Prime Minister also used the opportunity to target the Congress and the Gandhi family. “The royal family of Congress only did politics in Raebareli whereas work has been done by Modi. I laid the foundation stone of Raebareli AIIMS five years ago and today, I dedicated it (to the nation). Thus, your sevak has honoured the guarantee,” Modi said. The Prime Minister’s remarks came days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, during his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra at Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh, targeted the Central government over the awarding of defence equipment contracts. “The money the Agniveers should get…is being given by (Prime Minister) Narendra Modiji to his friend,” he had alleged.

On Sunday, the projects unveiled or laid foundation stone for spanned across sectors such as health, ports, power,
petroleum and natural gas, roads and buildings, water management, tourism, railway, and roads, among others from Rajkot.

The projects include inauguration of the new building of Maternal and Child Care Hospital, popularly known as Zanana hospital, constructed at Rs 120 crore on the campus of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Government Hospital in Rajkot. The PM also dedicated the Rajkot-Surendranagar railway section that has been double-tracked at the cost of Rs 1,300 crore and two highways in Bhavnagar district constructed at Rs 2,000 crore.

He also inaugurated or laid the foundation stone of 10 power infrastructure projects worth Rs 16,395 crore in Kutch. This included the phase-1 of the Khavda-Bhuj transmission line worth Rs 1,100 crore for evacuated power from the proposed three gigawatt renewable park at Khavda in Kutch.
The PM also laid the foundation stone of the Mundra-Panipat petroleum pipeline worth Rs 9,000 crore for crude oil transmission.

Modi said he has taken the Central government to the nook and corners of the country though there was a time when the Union government’s events used to remain confined to the national capital only.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel thanked the PM for the development projects in the state. “PM has showered bunches of development projects over Gujarat this week. Just three days ago, he gifted development projects worth more than Rs 57,000 crore to north Gujarat and south Gujarat (regions)… More than 300 projects worth more than Rs 1.10 lakh crore within four days is, I believe, happening for the first time in the history of the state,” Patel said.