Governor of Bihar, Shri Phagu Chauhan; Chief Minister of Bihar, Shri Nitish Kumar, my Cabinet colleagues Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, other members of the Union and State Cabinet, MPs, MLAs and my dear friends!
Friends,
The 4 schemes inaugurated today include Sewage Treatment Plants at Beur and Karmalichak in Patna city as well as water related projects in Siwan and Chhapra under AMRUT scheme. Besides, the foundation stones have also been laid for water supply projects to address the water scarcity problem in Munger and Jamalpur and River Front Development Scheme under the Namami Gange in Muzaffarpur today. Heartiest congratulations for these new facilities that promise to make life easier for the urban poor and the middle class living in the city.
Friends,
This programme today has been organized on a special day. Today we are also celebrating Engineer's Day. This day marks the birth anniversary of the great engineer of the country, M. Visvesvaraya Ji. This day is dedicated to his memory. Our Indian engineers have made an unprecedented contribution in building our country and the world. Whether it is their dedication towards work, or keen vision, a separate identity has been created for the Indian engineers in the world. This is a fact, and we are proud of the fact that our engineers are vigorously carrying forward the development of the country and improving the lives of 130 crore citizens. On this occasion, I salute all the engineers and their constructive power. Bihar also has played a major role in this work of nation building. Bihar produces lakhs of engineers who give new heights to the development of the country. The land of Bihar is synonymous with invention and innovation. Several sons of Bihar reach the elite engineering institutes of the country every year and shine. Today, the engineers of Bihar are playing a major role in completing the projects that has commenced work. I also congratulate all the engineers of Bihar in particular on Engineer's Day.
Friends,
Bihar is a land of historical cities. The cities have had a rich heritage here for thousands of years. Economic, cultural and politically prosperous and thriving cities developed around the Ganges Valley in ancient India. But the long period of slavery had caused severe damage to this legacy. For a few decades after independence, Bihar was led by big and visionary leaders who tried their best to remove the distortions made during the era of colonialism. But then there was a period when, instead of developing basic facilities in Bihar or providing modern facilities to the people of the state, the priorities and commitments had turned out to be somewhat different. As a result, the focus had moved away from governance in the state. As a result, the villages of Bihar degraded further and the infrastructure of cities which were once a symbol of prosperity could not be upgraded in accordance with the increasing population and changing times. Roads, lanes, drinking water, sewage and many such basic issues were either neglected or the work associated with these aspects was entangled into scams.
Friends,
When selfish motives prevail over governance and the vote-bank politics starts suppressing the system, then the oppressed, deprived and exploited sections of the society face the greatest impact of the same. People of Bihar have endured this pain for decades. When the basic needs like water and sewage are not met, then our mothers and sisters have to suffer, the poor suffer, the Dalits suffer, the backward and the extreme backward classes suffer. People who drink polluted water under compulsion fall prey to diseases. In such a scenario, a large part of paid earnings goes into treatment. Sometimes the family is buried under the debt for many years. Under these circumstances, a very large section of people in Bihar had accepted debt, disease, helplessness and illiteracy as their fate. In a way, due to the wrong priorities of governments, the confidence of a large section of the society was deeply hurt. What could have been a worse experience than this for the poor?
Friends,
Nitish ji, Sushil ji and their team have been trying to bring back the confidence of this weakest section of the society for the past one and a half decades. In particular, the priority given to the education of daughters and to the participation of disadvantaged and exploited sections of the society in local bodies including Panchayati Raj, has helped them in growing confidence. Since 2014, almost complete control of infrastructure related schemes has been given to gram panchayats or local bodies. Now, from the planning to implementation, and the maintenance of the schemes, are being done by the local bodies as per the local needs. This is the reason why the infrastructure of basic amenities like drinking water and sewerage is continuously improving in the cities of Bihar due to the joint efforts of the Center and the Government of Bihar. Under Mission AMRUT and State Government schemes, lakhs of families have been connected with facilities like water in the urban areas of Bihar in the last 4-5 years. In the coming years, Bihar will be among those states of the country, where every household will start receiving piped water supply. This will be a huge achievement for Bihar; it will be a matter of great pride for Bihar.
The people of Bihar have worked relentlessly even during the Corona crisis to achieve this mammoth goal. In the last few months, more than 57 lakh families have been given water connections in rural areas of Bihar. Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan has also played a major role in the same. Thousands of our labour friends, who returned to Bihar from other states due to Corona, have shown this. This speedy implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission is dedicated to these hard working friends of Bihar. In the last 1 year, more than 2 crore water connections have been given all over the country under the Water Life Mission. Today, every day more than 1 lakh houses in the country are being connected with piped water supply. Clean water not only improves the lives of the poor, but also protects them from several serious diseases.
Friends,
The work of connecting lakhs of people of Bihar with pure water supply in urban areas is also going on at a rapid pace. The goal is to connect around 12 lakh families with pure water under the AMRUT scheme across Bihar. Out of this, the facility has already reached 6 lakh families. Other families too will soon have access to clean water. Today, the projects for which the foundation stone has been laid are part of this resolution.
Friends,
Urbanization is the reality of this age. Today the number of urban areas is increasing all over the world. India is also no exception to this global change. But for many decades we had a particular mindset; we had assumed that urbanization was a problem and a hindrance in itself! But I believe, it is not so. Baba Saheb Ambedkar had understood this fact and was a great supporter of urbanization. He did not consider urbanization to be a problem. He had imagined cities where even the poorest of the poor got opportunities, paving the way towards betterment of life. Today it is necessary that our cities have possibilities, prosperity, respect, security, strong society and modern facilities. That is, cities should be such that everyone, especially our youth, gets new and limitless possibilities to move forward. There should be cities where every family can live with prosperity and happiness. Cities should be such that everyone, the poor, the dalits, the backward, and the women gets a respectable life; where there is safety and the rule of law; where every section of the society can live together; and where the cities have modern facilities and modern infrastructure. This is 'ease of living'. This is the dream of the country and the country is moving in this direction.
And friends,
Today we are witnessing a new urbanization in the country. Cities that were not prominent before, are also making their presence felt today. Our youth in these cities, who have not studied in top private schools & colleges, who do not belong to very rich families, are doing amazingly well today by creating new dimensions of success. Till a few years ago, urbanization meant, just making some of the big cities very attractive or developing only a few areas in a few cities. But now this thinking and method is changing. And, the people of Bihar are making their full contribution to this new urbanization of India.
Friends,
To give impetus to the mission of building a self-reliant Bihar, and a self-reliant India, it is very important to prepare the small cities of the country according to the needs of the present and not just the future. With this thinking, under the AMRUT Mission, emphasis is being laid on the development of essential facilities in several cities of Bihar as well as on creation of a better environment for Ease of Living and Ease of Doing Business. Under the AMRUT Mission, arrangements are being made in these cities for water and Sewage as well as creating green zones, parks and installing LED street lights. Under this mission, lakhs of people have also been connected to better Sewage system in the urban areas of Bihar.
Most of the facilities have also been developed in such settlements, where the poorest of the poor families live. In Bihar too, over 4.5 lakh LED street lights have been installed in more than 100 municipal areas. Consequently, not only is the lighting in the streets of our small cities are getting better, but electricity worth hundreds of crores too is being saved and the lives of the people are getting easier.
Friends, the people of Bihar and the towns/cities of Bihar have a very close relationship with Ganges.
20 big and important towns/cities of the state are situated along the banks of Ganga ji.
Cleanliness of Ganga Ji or Ganga water has a direct impact on crores of people living in these cities. Keeping in mind the cleanliness of Ganga ji, more than 50 projects worth over Rs.6000 crores have been approved in Bihar. The government is trying to ensure that in all the cities situated along the banks of the Ganges, the drains carrying effluent water should not be released into the Ganges. Several water treatment plants are being set up for the same. The projects launched in Beur and Karmalichak in Patna today will benefit lakhs of people of this region. Besides, the villages which are situated on the banks of Ganga ji are also being developed as 'Ganga Gram'. After the construction of lakhs of toilets in these villages, incentives are now being given for occupations like waste management and organic farming.
Friends,
The villages and cities along the banks of Ganga ji have been the main centers of tourism related to religion and spirituality. As the campaign to make Ganga ji 'nirmal' and 'aviral' is progressing, the modern dimensions of tourism are also getting added to it. Under the Namami Gange Mission, construction work of more than 180 ghats is underway in the entire country including Bihar. Out of this, 130 ghats have also been completed. Besides, work has also been completed on more than 40 Moksha Dhamas. Work on the riverfront with modern facilities is also going on at several places along the Ganges in the country. The riverfront project in Patna has been completed and the foundation stone for the construction of a similar riverfront has been laid in Muzaffarpur. When the Akhara Ghat, Seedhi Ghat and Chandwara Ghat of Muzaffarpur will be developed, these too will become major centers of tourism. Nobody could ever imagine 1½ decades back that not only the work could be done so fast in Bihar but would also be completed. But the efforts of Nitishji and the Central Government have proved this. I hope that these efforts will help to reduce the problems faced by the people of Bihar, especially the women of Bihar during the auspicious time of Chhath puja. With the blessings of Chhati Maiyya, we will continue to work hard to liberate the urban and rural areas of Bihar from polluted water.
Friends,
You must have heard that the government has recently made an announcement about project Dolphin. The Ganges River Dolphin will also be immensely benefited with this mission. The conservation of the Ganges River dolphin is very important to conserve the Ganges River. The dolphin lives in the entire stretch of Ganga ji from Patna to Bhagalpur. Therefore, "Project Dolphin" will greatly benefit Bihar. Tourism along with Biodiversity will also get a boost here.
Friends,
This campaign of development and good governance in Bihar is going to be a continuous process amidst the challenge of Corona pandemic. We are going to move ahead with complete force and strength. But at the same time, every citizen of Bihar and every countryman should not forget the resolution to prevent infection. Masks, cleanliness, and social distancing are the most effective weapons for our protection. Our scientists have been busy developing vaccines all day. But we have to remember - there should not be any laxity unless there is a medicine.
With this request, once again, heartiest congratulations to all of you for these development projects!
Thank you !!!
