PM to launch infra-projects in Maharashtra

Mumbai, Jan 8 (IANS)- Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday launch several development projects and address a public rally in Solapur in Maharashtra, officials said here on Tuesday.

Modi will lay the foundation stone for constructing 30,000 homes under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) meant for homeless people, ragpickers, rickshaw drivers, textile employees, beedi workers and others.

The project cost of Rs 1,811.33 crore shall be jointly borne by the Centre and Maharashtra. Giving a boost to road transport and connectivity in the state’s backward Marathwada region, Modi will dedicate to the nation a four-lane section of the Solapur-Tuljapur-Osmanabad National Highway 52. As part of the Swachha Bharat Mission initiatives, Modi will unveil an Underground Sewerage System and three Sewage Treatment Plants in Solapur, a 2-tier city with a population of nearly one million.

This will help boost the sewer coverage of the city, improve sanitation and replace the existing system besides connecting to the trunk sewers being implemented under the Amrut Mission.

Later, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone for the Combined Project of Improvement in Water Supply and Sewerage System as part of the Area Based Development in Solapur Smart City, Augmentation of Drinking Water Suppy from Ujani Dam to Solapur City and the Underground Sewerage System under Amrut Mission.

The cost of the project is Rs 244 crore under the Smart City Mission and it would bring significant improvements in service delivery and improve public health.

Later, Modi will address a public meeting in the city, which is expected to kickstart the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lok Sabha election campaign in Maharashtra. Situated around 360 km from Mumbai, Solapur has the highest – 33 – sugar factories in all districts of the state, is the leading producer of beedis and famed for its pomegranates and spinning textiles in which it ranks second in the world and highest in Asia.

Its renowned ‘Solapuri chadars’ became the first product from the state to get a Geographical Indication (GI) tag. The city boasts of the first waste-to-electricity generation plant in Maharashtra.

–IANSqn/mr