India, Feb. 20 -- The Government of India has issued a release:
Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah today launched the Rs.6,839 crore Vibrant Villages Programme-II (VVP-II) at Nathanpur village in Assam. Several dignitaries, including Assam Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma and the Union Home Secretary, were present on the occasion.
In his address, Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah said that through the Vibrant Villages - 2 program , which is launching today, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has initiated an effort to provide all villages in the Barak Valley and border districts of Assam with the same facilities as other villages in India. He said that there was a time when border villages were called the last villages in the country because they lagged behind in terms of development, employment, electricity connectivity, and education. He said that in the Vibrant Villages-1 program, Prime Minister Modi decided that every village located on the border is not the last village but the first village in India. Shri Shah said that from today, this village in Assam is also going to become the first village in the country. He said that this village will not only be the first in the race for development but will also be the first in the country in the fields of employment, education, roads, and telecommunications.
Shri Amit Shah stated that Vibrant Villages - 2, at a cost of approximately Rs.6,900 crore, covers 1,954 villages in 334 blocks across 17 states, including 9 districts, 26 blocks, and 140 villages in Assam. He stated that these 140 villages in Assam will be provided with all the amenities available in every village in India. He added that the program also includes villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Shri Shah stated that a Rs.7,000 crore program for the development of approximately 2,000 villages in 334 blocks along the international border is starting today. He stated that this includes several schemes related to security, scheme saturation, and connectivity.
Shri Amit Shah said that previous governments ruled Assam for years but did nothing for the state's development. He said that in our 10 years of rule, we have accomplished what previous governments could not even do in 50 years. He said that in the last 5 years, 14 kilometers of road has been built in Assam every day, which is the highest in India. He said that more than 24 thousand kilometers of roads in Assam have been upgraded, many bridges have been built, and 4 major new bridges have been given to the people of Assam by our double engine government in the last 10 years.
The Union Home and Cooperation Minister said that when our party formed the government, multidimensional poverty in Assam was 37 percent, which reduced to 14 percent in 2023. He said that the per capita income of Assam was 49 thousand rupees in 2013-14, which increased three times to 1 lakh 54 thousand rupees in 2024-25. Mr. Shah said that the confidence in the minds of the people here has come due to good governance and peace. He said that the Himanta Biswa Sarma government of Assam has also ended the bomb blasts and insurgency that used to happen here earlier.
Shri Amit Shah said that under Himanta's leadership, Assam has become a health hub for the entire Northeast, and a semiconductor plant worth Rs.27,000 crore has come up in Assam. He added that the Modi government has allocated Rs.30,000 crore for road development, Rs.95,000 crore for railways, and Rs.10,000 crore for airports. He added that we have also introduced a lucrative industrial policy for Assam's development.
The Union Home Minister said that in the coming days, Assam will join the ranks of the developed states of the country and the Vibrant Village-2 program is a very important part of this. He said that every border village should be as developed as other villages of the country, there should be no migration from the border, infiltrators should not be able to enter from the border and it is the resolve of our government to envision a safe India through a safe Assam. Shri Shah said that today the Vibrant Villages-2 program is being started from Barak Valley and it will bring development to the border villages of 17 states.
Disclaimer: The original story of this translated version is available on Press Information Bureau.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
