Maharashtra: PM Modi said in Shirdi, poor-farmer welfare is top priority, gift of Nilwande Dam to food providers

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to launch projects worth over Rs 7,500 crore today aimed at benefiting over 86 lakh farmers in Maharashtra. Before this, he inaugurated the Nilwande Dam by performing water puja. Along with this, he dedicated the canal network of the dam to the nation. 182 villages in seven tehsils (six in Ahmednagar district and one in Nashik district) will benefit through Nilwande Dam.

PM Modi said in the public meeting in Shirdi, with the blessings of Sai Baba, the foundation stone and inauguration of development works worth Rs 7.5 thousand crores has been done. The work of Nilwande Dam, which Maharashtra was waiting for for 5 decades, has also been completed. I am fortunate that I got the opportunity to worship water there. He said, I also got the opportunity to lay the foundation stone of the schemes related to the temple which have been inaugurated today. With the completion of the Darshan queue complex, it will be very convenient for the devotees from India and abroad.

Referring to the initiatives and schemes taken during the tenure of BJP, the Prime Minister said, the country should be freed from poverty, the poorest of the poor families should be given the opportunity to move forward, this is true social justice. Our government works on the mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. The top priority of our double engine government is poor welfare. He said, today when the country's economy is growing, the government's budget for the welfare of the poor is also increasing.

Referring to the facilities being provided for the treatment of the poor in Maharashtra, PM Modi said, today 1.10 crore Ayushman cards are being given in Maharashtra. All such card holders are guaranteed free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh. The country has spent Rs 70 thousand crore to provide free treatment to the poor under the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Referring to the scheme being run to ensure that the people of the country get adequate food grains, Prime Minister Modi said, the country has also spent more than Rs 4 lakh crore on the scheme of free ration to the poor. Referring to the benefits being received by the beneficiaries of the housing scheme, he said that the government has also spent Rs 4 lakh crore to build houses for the poor. This is also almost 6 times more than in the 10 years before 2014.

According to the Prime Minister, the government has so far spent about Rs 2 lakh crore to provide water to every household. He told that through PM Swanidhi Yojana, those who set up shops on street vendors, carts and footpaths are getting help of thousands of rupees. Referring to the scheme launched recently on his birthday, the Prime Minister said, the government has just launched PM Vishwakarma Yojana.

He said that through the PM Vishwakarma Scheme of the Central Government, lakhs of families like carpenters, goldsmiths, potters, sculptors have got help from the government for the first time. He said that more than Rs 13 thousand crores are being spent on this scheme.

Claiming that the BJP government is farmer friendly, Prime Minister Modi said, earlier no one used to take care of the farmers. We started PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, with the help of which Rs 2 lakh 60 thousand crores have been given to crores of small farmers across the country. He said that Rs 26 thousand crores have also been transferred directly into the bank accounts of small farmers of Maharashtra.

The Prime Minister said, we are engaged in the empowerment of farmers with true intentions, but some people have only done politics in the name of farmers in Maharashtra. Without naming former Union Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar, PM Modi said, a senior leader from Maharashtra has been the Agriculture Minister in the Central Government for a long time, but during his tenure of 7 years, he has helped the farmers across the country. Bought grains worth only Rs 3.5 lakh crore at Minimum Support Price (MSP). Whereas our government has given Rs 13.5 lakh crore to farmers as MSP in 7 years.