Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk: ANJAR (GUJARAT) Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Sunday energy is essential for financial development and its paucity does not let any nation come out of poverty. Claiming that the day is not far when India will overtake Britain’s economy, he said while 13 crore families received gas connections in the country in 60 years, his government gave connections to 10 crore families in the last four years.
Modi was addressing a gathering after inaugurating the Mundra LNG Terminal, Anjar-Mundra and the Palanpur-Pali-Barmer gas transmission projects at Anjar in Kutch district of Gujarat.
“Energy is essential for development.
Paucity of energy does not let any nation come out of poverty. If one needs freedom from poverty, wants financial development and a self-sufficient country, energy is necessary. Without it, even a mobile phone cannot be charged,” he said.
Modi said several prime ministers and chief ministers came and went, but he was fortunate to get the opportunity to inaugurate the third LNG (liquefied natural gas) terminal.
“The inauguration of the LNG terminal is the highlight of today’s programme. I am fortunate to have inaugurated three LNG terminals. When Gujarat got its first LNG terminal people were surprised. Now, we are poised to make a fourth LNG terminal,” Modi said.
“Gujarat is emerging as LNG hub of India and this should make every Gujarati proud. The LNG terminals in Gujarat are providing energy to the eastern coast of India as well,” Modi added.
He said a strong energy sector is needed for the growth of any country because “we cannot alleviate poverty if we are energy poor”.
Modi said there was a time when people were happy with ‘kachcha’ roads, but now people want modern development.
“Times have changed significantly. People now are not happy with single lane roads. The aspirations of the people are rising and they want i-ways, gras grids, water grids, optical fibre networks in addition to the conventional infrastructure,” he said.
“There was a time when, forget sitting in an aircraft, even spotting one was a big thing. Today, we have made effort to make the aviation sector more affordable and improve connectivity,” the prime minister said.
“In 60 years, 13 crore families received gas connections in the country. In four years (since coming to power), we gave connections to 10 crore families,” Modi said.
He said his government wants to strengthen existing infrastructure and at the same time focus on futuristic development projects.
“From the ramparts of the Red Fort I said that we will electrify the 18,000 villages of India. The entire machinery worked round the clock to make this happen,” he said.
“Now, we are working towards electrifying every single household in India. We want to bring qualitative changes in the lives of the common citizen of India,” Modi added.
The prime minister said his government’s aim is that in the coming days no family would have to cook on wood.
“The day is not far, when the country’s economy will overtake Britain’s economy,” he added.
