1. Home
  2. Work unitedly to realise Abdul Kalam’s dream of developed India: Modi

Work unitedly to realise Abdul Kalam’s dream of developed India: Modi

Agencies
July 27, 2017

Rameswaram, Jul 27: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged the people to work together to fulfil former president A P J Abdul Kalam’s dream of seeing a developed India by 2022 when it celebrates its 75th Independence Day. “There are 125 crore people and if each one takes one step, then the country would be 125 crore steps ahead,” he told a public meeting near this island, the home town of the late ‘Missile Man’, after inaugurating his national memorial.narendra

Various schemes launched by central government whether it was “Stand up India or Start up India, ‘Amrut’ cities or smart cities or Clean India projects would go a long way in realising Kalam’s dream of “developed India”, he said. In a reference to epic ‘Ramayana’, Modi said even a small squirrel had helped Lord Ram in constructing the ‘Ramasethu’ (bridge) for him to cross over to Sri Lanka.

“If people are committed like that squirrel, the country can scale great heights,” Modi said addressing a gathering at Mandapam, about 15 kms from Rameswaram. He urged the youth and pilgrims visiting this holy town to include a visit to Kalam’s memorial, designed and built by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) with which the former president was associated with for a long time.

Modi heaped praise on labourers involved in the construction of the memorial, saying they had not charged for the extra two hours they had put in every day. After sweating it out from 8 AM to 5 PM, they would later take a break for one hour and put in two additional man hours. They had refused payment for these extra two hours, saying it was their way of contributing towards the memory of Kalam, Modi said, adding this deserved a standing ovation.

The audience was immediately on its feet applauding the the labourers, architects and workers who had toiled in raising the structure. Paying rich tributes to Kalam, whose second death anniversary was observed, Modi said the former president continues to inspire crores of countrymen. “People from every corner of the country come here (mostly on pilgrimage). I urge them, the tour operators and youth — whenever you come here, add to your programme a visit to this memorial,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister pointed out that Kalam loved the youths and the students very much, and it was for their benefit that Stand Up and Start Up schemes had been launched. The Mudra bank loan scheme had been launched to provide loans for the youths without any guarantee and it had benefited over eight crore people, including one crore from Tamil Nadu, he said.
A new India and a new Tamil Nadu could be developed with the cooperation of the central and state governments, he said. Ten cities in the state had been chosen for the smart city project and 33 towns for development under the AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) scheme, he said.
The central government had allocated Rs.900 crore for the Smart City and Rs.4,700 crore for the AMRUT scheme, he said the latter would ensure availability of better power, water, sanitation and other essential infrastructure. The Prime Minister hoped that the ‘Sagar Mala’ scheme, linking the coastal areas spreading through the country’s 7,500 km coastal line, would bring more investments and benefit people in a big way.

Announcing the launch of deep sea fishing to Rameswaram fishermen under hte Blue Revolution scheme, for which Rs 1,500 crore had been allocated, he said it would help fishermen to get better revenue and at the same time overcome problems relating to the fishing in the Palk Strait. The Prime Minister also flagged off a weekly train to Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh from Rameswaram.

In order to help the people worship at Ramar Sethu, the mythical bridge believed to have been built by Lord Rama, the Rameswaram-Dhanushkodi road which was destroyed in the devastating cyclone decades ago had been rebuilt. Modi also unveiled synopsis of Green Rameswaram scheme, a pet project of late Kalam, presented by the local Vivekananda Kendra.

He recalled that it was in Rameswaram that Swami Vivekananda placed his first step when he returned from America in 1897. Earlier, after inaugurating the memorial, Modi paid floral tributes to Kalam at his ‘samadhi’. Evincing keen interest in the features of the memorial, which has on display replicas of rockets and missiles on which the late scientist had worked, the Prime Minister viewed it for about 15 minutes.

It has been built at a cost of Rs 15 crore on land alloted by the Tamil Nadu government at Kalam’s village Peikarambu. On the occasion, the Prime Minister also unveiled a wooden statue of Kalam playing the ‘veena’. The former president was adept at playing the musical instrument. The memorial also has about 900 paintings and 200 rare photographs of the late scientist, who held the office of the president from 2002 to 2007.

Modi was accompanied by Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Chief Minister K Palaniswami, Union ministers Pon Radhakrishnan, Nirmala Sitharaman and NDA’s vice presidential nominee M Venakaiah Naidu. The prime minister earlier unfurled the national flag at the entrance of the memorial. Later, he interacted with family members of Kalam.

Modi was seen affectionately holding the hands of Kalam’s elder brother A P J Mohamed Muthumeeran Maraikaya.

Comments

Raj
 - 
Friday, 28 Jul 2017

Congrats Sir. May you achieve many more feats in your career. Good luck

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 3,2020

Jammu, Jun 3: A mob on Tuesday disrupted the last rites of a coronavirus victim in Jammu and Kashmir and forced his family members to flee with the half-burnt body, prompting intervention by the administration which later ensured the cremation at another place as per protocol.

A 72-year-old man, hailing from Doda district, became the fourth victim of the novel coronavirus to die in Jammu region. He breathed his last at the Government Medical College (GMC) hospital on Monday.

"We had set out for the funeral along with a revenue official and a medical team, and had lit the pyre at a cremation ground in Domana area when a large group of local residents appeared at the scene and disrupted the last rites," son of the deceased said.

Only close relatives of the deceased, including his wife and two sons, were present during the cremation. They had to flee with the half-burnt body in an ambulance to save their skin from the mob which pelted stones and attacked them with sticks.

"We had sought permission from the government to take the body to our home district for the last rites, but we were told that all necessary arrangements were in place, and that we would not face any trouble during the cremation," the victim's son said.

He also alleged that the security officials present at the scene were of no help.

Two policemen who were present there failed to act against the unruly crowd, while the accompanying revenue official went missing, he said.

"The ambulance driver and other staff from the hospital helped us a lot and managed to take us back to the GMC hospital with the body the government should have come out with a better plan to conduct the last rites of coronavirus victims, taking into consideration the past experience and problems encountered during the funeral of such victims," the victim's son said.

Later, the body was taken to a cremation ground at Bhagwati Nagar area of the city, where it was consigned to flames in the afternoon in presence of senior civil officials, including additional deputy commissioner and sub-divisional magistrate under tight security.

"My uncle was admitted in the hospital last week and died on Monday afternoon. He was suffering from various ailments, especially lungs and heart diseases. Before shifting him to GMC hospital Jammu, he underwent a coronavirus test in Doda which came negative," nephew of the deceased said.

However, he said, the victim's second test after his admission in the GMC hospital came positive on Sunday.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
April 21,2020

New Delhi, Apr 21: Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, who has been booked by the Delhi Police for holding a religious congregation here during the lockdown, on Monday urged the followers of the organisation to pray at home in the month of Ramzan.

"I request all, both in India and abroad, to strictly follow the guidelines and instructions of the local or national governments and till the time restrictions are in place and please observe prayers at home. And even in this, we should not invite people from outside," he said in a statement.

Ramzan begins later this week.

While addressing an online briefing on Sunday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal cited the Tablighi Jamaat congregation last month, a major hotspot, and the large inflow of travellers from other countries to Delhi as the reasons for the spread of the virus, and said the city was "fighting a difficult battle".

The Delhi Police crime branch, had on March 31, lodged an FIR against seven people, including the cleric, on a complaint by the Station House Officer of Nizamuddin police station for holding the congregation in alleged violation of the orders against large gatherings to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Later, the Indian Penal Code Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) was added to the FIR.

The cleric is wanted by the Delhi Police and he responded twice to them. He is currently under home quarantine.

In an audio message released earlier this month, Kandhalvi had said he was exercising self-quarantine after several hundreds who visited the congregation at Nizamudddin Markaz tested positive for coronavirus.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 5,2020

Bikaner, Jan 5: A government-run hospital in Bikaner saw the death of at least 162 children, higher than the number of deaths in Kota's JK Lon Hospital in December.

"In December, we received 2,219 children from different hospitals out of which 162 children died in the Intensive Care Unit here. None of them was born at the hospital," said Dr HS Kumar, Principal, Sardar Patel Medical College, PBM Hospital.

He, however, denied any negligence on the part of the hospital and said that all efforts were made to save every single life.

The official said that all the deceased children had taken birth at the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) and the Community Health Centres (CHC) and were referred to the PBM Hospital in a critical condition.

"Their condition was critical and they breathed their last during treatment," he said.

At least 110 children have lost their lives at JK Lon government hospital in Kota, Rajasthan.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.