Guwahati: Taking pot-shots at the Congress lead government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that he was fortunate to unveil the Brahmaputra Cracker & Polymers plant, something that his predecessor could not.
Inaugurating the Rs 9,965-crore gas cracker project at Lepetkota in eastern Assam’s Dibrugarh district, Modi said, “It appears I am destined to give shape to all unfinished projects. I don't think I should have the opportunity to inaugurate these projects. This should have been done long ago.”
Claiming that the delay has cost the exchequer much, he continued, “Had this gas cracker project completed 25 years ago, the second generation of people in Assam could have found employment. We have had this tendency to delay so much that a project that should have cost Rs 500-crore instead of Rs 10-11,000-crore.”
Taking credit, Modi said that his government had fast-tracked the gas cracker project as part of its Act East policy to ensure Assam and the northeast keep pace with development elsewhere in the country.
“I don’t mind (giving credit for UPA projects) as long as the country benefits,” he added.
Modi was speaking with reference to remark of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who in his speech said that Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar should have ideally have given credit to former PM Manmohan Singh and the state government for facilitating the project.
Kumar had earlier insisted that Modi’s vision had made the gas cracker project, in the making for years, possible.
“Projects of such magnitude are not built in a day, and subsidies of 53 per cent ensured by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh helped the gas cracker plant come up. Ananth Kumar perhaps does not like us,” Gogoi had said.
Earlier, Prime Minister reiterated that development of eastern parts of India was a core priority for his government as that was the only way to ensure all round development of the country.
“The prosperity of the nation is linked to the development of Northeast. And it is our priority,” said Modi.
The Prime Minister in his speech also batted for a new development model for the north- eastern states to enable the harnessing of the "collective strength" of the region along with the neighbouring countries as part of the Centre's 'Act East Policy'.
