New Delhi/Shillong: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that the Centre wants to make the northeastern region as the gateway to South-east Asia, and has made huge investment there for its overall development. However, he expressed apprehension that lack of cleanliness could be a deterrent towards achieving this aim.
“If such a beautiful gateway is unclean, diseased, illiterate or disbalanced, then it will fail to cross the gateway of the country’s development. There is no reason why, with all our resources, we should remain backward or poor,” the Prime Minister said.
Addressing the centenary celebrations of Bharat Sevashram Sangha in Shillong through video conferencing, Mr Modi expressed disappointment over the fact that “only Gangtok had found a place among the first 50 clean cities”, out of the 12 cities from the Northeast surveyed as part of the recent nationwide cleanliness survey.
While four Northeastern cities found a place between 100 and 200 clean cities, seven were positioned between 200 and 300, with Shillong being the 276th, he said while stressing that “Swachhata” or cleanliness was a major challenge for everyone in the region.
“We have to make the Northeast a gateway for Southeast Asia,” he said, adding if this gateway is dirty, then the dream would not be fulfilled and asked the people to help in the cleanliness campaign.
He said the major thrust was to improve connectivity and develop the entire region for tourism purposes.
“All these initiatives will help to make the Northeast the gateway of Southeast Asia,” Mr Modi said.
While an investment of Rs 40,000 crore is being made to improve the road infrastructure in the entire Northeast, 19 big railway projects have also been started in the region, he said.
“We are also improving the electricity situation in the Northeast and trying to bring even more tourists to the region,” he informed.
The Bharat Sevashram Sangha is a network of volunteers across the globe engaged in helping people in distress.
The Sangha’s social welfare activities include disaster relief, spreading education, providing healthcare facilities, vocational training and upliftment of the tribals.
