PM Modi to perform puja in Shirdi, flag off Rs 7,500 cr worth of projects in Maharashtra

Mumbai: In what would be a sort of launch of the BJP's 2024 poll campaign in Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and dedicate projects to the tune of Rs 7,500 crore after performing puja at the Shri Saibaba Samadhi temple in Shirdi in the Ahmednagar district.

Modi is slated to launch the 'Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana', which will benefit more than 86 lakh beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in Maharashtra, by providing an additional amount of Rs 6,000 per year to them.

Modi will inaugurate the new Darshan Queue complex at Shirdi, a state-of-the-art modern mega building envisaged to provide comfortable waiting areas for the devotees. It is equipped with several waiting halls with a cumulative seating capacity of more than ten thousand devotees. It also has air-conditioned public amenities like cloak rooms, toilets, booking counters, prasad counters, and information centres. The foundation stone of this new Darshan Queue Complex was laid by the Prime Minister in October, 2018.

Modi will dedicate to the nation the left bank (85 km) canal network of the Nilwande Dam. It will benefit 182 villages from seven tehsils (six in Ahmednagar district and one in Nashik district) by facilitating pipe distribution networks of water. The idea of Nilwande Dam was first conceived in 1970. It is being developed at a cost of about Rs 5,177 crore.

The Prime Minister will also inaugurate and dedicate to the nation multiple development projects: the Ayush Hospital at Ahmednagar Civil Hospital, electrification of the Kurduwadi-Latur Road railway section (186 km), the 3rd & 4th railway line connecting Jalgaon to Bhusaval (24.46 km), the four laning of Sangli to Borgaon section of NH-166 (Package-I), and additional facilities at Manmad Terminal of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, are some of the other projects on the PM's agenda.

Modi will also lay the foundation stone of the Maternal & Child Health Wing at the Ahmednagar Civil Hospital. During the programme, the Prime Minister will also distribute Ayushman cards and Svamitva cards to beneficiaries.