Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a visit to Uttarakhand, addressed a gathering at Badrinath’s Mana, the last village bordering China.
While speaking at a public event, the PM on Friday promoted the Local for Vocal initiative and appealed to people to buy locally-made products.
“I appeal to all tourists in the country to spend at least 5 per cent of their travel budget on buying local products,” Prime Minister Modi said at a public event held in Mana.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been encouraging Indians to purchase indigenous products to sustain the local economy. PM Modi initiated the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign with an aim to boost demand for local products, and therefore, for domestic industries.
The village is situated near international borders and far-flung areas and PM Modi said that every village located in the border areas will be now considered as the first village of India.
M Modi slams previous governments
Further, the PM accused the previous governments of leaving the centres of faith across the country in a state of neglect for years and claimed that these places are now being restored to their lost glory.
Citing the examples of the Kashi Vishwanath temple, Ujjain and Ayodhya, where major reconstruction work has been carried out in recent years, Modi attributed the “years of neglect” of these places to a “slave mentality”.
“Pride in our own legacy and every possible effort for development are the foundation of a 21st-century India,” the prime minister said while addressing a gathering in Uttarakhand’s Mana village on the India-China border, after laying the foundation stones of two ropeway projects to Kedarnath and Hemkund Sahib.
The PM also laid the foundation stone for road widening projects worth around Rs 1,000 crore. The two road widening projects – from Mana to Mana Pass (NH07) and from Joshimath to Malari (NH107B) – shall be another step towards providing last-mile all-weather road connectivity to our border areas. The projects will not only boost connectivity but will also prove beneficial from a strategic point of view.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the Badrinath temple and reviewed the progress of the development work of the riverfront.
In Kedarnath, he laid the foundation stone for a ropeway project, which will be around 9.7 km long and will connect Gaurikund to Kedarnath, reducing the travel time between the two places from 6-7 hours at present to only about 30 minutes. The ropeway is estimated to cost Rs 2,430 crore
