Smriti in Amethi, doles out projects

Smriti, who had visited Amethi along with Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Balyan on May 12 too, addressed five public meetings in the assembly segments of Salon, Amethi, Gauriganj, Jagdishpur and Tiloi on Tuesday. She, however, avoided targeting Rahul directly in her speeches but accused Congress for not taking care of Amethi. “Amethi did not get the care it deserved after giving lot of affection and regard to politicians so far,” Smriti said in a meeting in Salon.

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Smriti also announced the laying of railway tracks between Unchahar and Amethi stations. She said that connecting these two destinations used to be promised in every elections in the past. “Another Rs 40 crore has been allocated for doubling of railway tracks between Amethi and Rae Bareli,” she said, adding that upgradation of Gauriganj railway station too has been approved by the Centre to provide better facilities to the passengers.

As she had promised during her previous visit, Smriti paid the first year’s premium of nearly 25,000 Below Poverty Line (BPL) category villagers—5,000 each in five assembly segments—under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana. The one-year premium for the insurance scheme is Rs 12 and it provides an insurance coverage of Rs 2 lakh.

She also announced to pay the first year premium of another 25,000 women of the Lok Sabha constituency before Diwali to provide them social and financial security. Smriti said that these beneficiaries will also include Anganwadi workers, who staged a demonstration during her first meeting in Salon and raised their job-related demands before her.

In her previous visit, Smriti had announced to ensure that fertilizer consignments sent by the Centre will be unloaded at the Gauriganj railway station too. Smriti in all meetings on Tuesday said the fertilizers have started being unloaded at Gauriganj since Monday in the presence of BJP leaders. “This was a demand of local farmers for the past 10 years, but it was met by Narendra Modi government in just 10 days,” Smriti said. She said that farmers had complained that fertilizer stocks used to be unloaded in Rae Bareli and Sultanpur only.

She said that NDA government did such works for Amethi and Rae Bareli in one year which Congress-led governments could not in the past 60 years.

Apna Dal MP from Pratapgarh Kunwar Harivansh Singh too accompanied Smriti. The MP announced to set up a degree college for girls in Amethi in the current financial year from his own resources. He said that Smriti will lay the foundation stone of the project within one month and the college will be operational by next year. Harivansh also announced to set up a girls’ polytechnic in Amethi by 2017 and a skill development college for both boys and girls in Amethi by 2018.

Smriti said that Amethi had people telling her about the need of a degree college for girls in Amethi and Harivansh Singh has taken responsibility to develop the college.

The minister also promised to start ambulance service in some interior areas of Amethi where medical facilities were not available. She also said that the demand of farmers for setting up a Soil Testing Laboratory in Amethi has been approved by the Centre and land has also been identified for the project. She also announced that work on development of a highway connecting Ambedkar Nagar with Banda has started. It will benefit people of Amethi and Rae Bareli, she said.

Asked about Rahul’s comment about ‘zero’ out of 10 to Modi government, she remarked that a person who could not develop his constituency in 10 years can hardly judge the performance of a Prime Minister. In response to another query, she said that she had challenged Rahul to share stage with her in Amethi on Tuesday and debate on the issue of development. “But he did not come,” she said.

“I will keep on working in service of Amethi people till my last breath,” she repeated in her speeches.

Mohammad Shabbir, 52, of Nasirabad village of Salon was the first to get his premium paid by Smriti Irani because BJP workers had filled his form for registration under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana.