Farmers Movement Archive

PM Modi dedicates ₹2,655 crore Arjun Sahayak irrigation project to people in Mahoba

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday dedicated the ₹2,655 crore Arjun Sahayak irrigation project to the people in Mahoba district of Bundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh and said it would end the water woes of farmers in the drought-prone region. He also charged the previous Samajwadi Party government with non-cooperation in ending the region’s water scarcity. PM Modi was addressing the farmers for the first time since he announced the decision to repeal the Centre’s three contentious farm laws earlier in the day.“This project will benefit lakhs of farmers, they will get the water they have been waiting for generations in Bundelkhand,” he said.PM Modi also said that Mahoba is a witness to how the government has been brought to every nook-and-corner of the country from the closed doors of Delhi in the past seven years.Arjun Sahayak irrigation project is a flagship of project of the Uttar Pradesh government centering around providing water for drinking and irrigation in Mahoba.Quoting a couplet of Guru Nanak Dev on the importance of water in the Punjabi language, he said the project had remained a non-starter for years.“I discussed this crucial project with the then government many a time in 2014. They did not show any interest. It was the lifeline of this region,” PM Modi said.The work began under the Yogi Adityanath government in 2017 and has been completed in record time, he said.Asserting that the government was committed to the welfare of Bundelkhand, he said the previous government and “family-owned” political parties looted the region, its people and resources.“Those who kept cutting ribbons in the name of Bundelkhand’s ponds and water bodies for farmers did not allow a single penny to reach them,” he said.On the other hand, the water mechanism that the erstwhile rulers of Bundelkhand established had given the region prosperity and fame, he added.“I want to ask those parties, which ruled UP and Delhi, how this naturally gifted region became synonymous with struggles for water to an extent the people did not want to marry off their daughters in this region?” he said.“Let me tell (you) they worked for their families, there was corruption and commission, and you (farmers) remained desperate for a single drop of water,” he said, alleging that previous governments handed the region over to the mafia.These parties were creating ruckus when the Yogi government was bulldozing the mafia in Uttar Pradesh, he said.“No matter how much trouble they create, the development of state would not stop,” he said, adding, “They were not tired of looting the UP and we are not tired of serving the people.”He said many water related projects were underway under the Yogi Adityanath government. The government found the solution for the Ken- Betwa link in consultation with the stakeholders, the prime minister said.The linking would help lakhs of farmers in the days to come, he added. He said the problems were similar to those that prevailed in Gujarat where the Sardar Sarovar dam project allowed water to reach even the arid areas of Kutch.“I am from Gujarat and I understand your issues. Ee will replicate the success of Gujarat in Bundelkhand,” he said.Like people of Kutch in Gujarat earlier, the people in Bundelkhand had to migrate but this would change and a new life would be given to the region, he said. The PM said his government has taken a number of steps for welfare of farmers, including providing neem coated urea, the best seeds that give high-yield with low use of water and made record purchase of crops and increased minimum support price.He said he felt blessed in Mahoba from where he launched Ujjawala 2.0 scheme and had made a promise to Muslim women with regard to triple talaq.“From Mahoba, I promised my Muslim sisters that I will get rid of triple talaq for them. Today I am here to give my Bundeli sisters and farmers the best and biggest gift of this project,” he said.

Hindustan Times

20-11-2021

Lucknow