Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated three medical colleges and laid foundation for four hospitals in Jharkhand – a move that is expected to give a major boost to healthcare facilities in the State.
Each of the three medical colleges, in Hazaribagh, Dumka and Daltonganj, is to have 100 seats. The 500-bedded hospitals will come up in Hazaribag, Dumka, Palamu and Jamshedpur. The construction of the colleges cost around Rs 885 crore, while the cost of constructing the four hospitals will be around Rs 1,904 crore, officials said.
“After AIIMS in Deoghar, we will now have four more hospitals in Jharkhand. The boost to health facilities in the State is a result of combined efforts of the Governments at the Centre and State,” Modi said while launching the schemes and projects in Hazaribag’s Gandhi Maidan.
Besides, Modi inaugurated eastern India’s first Women’s Engineering College in Ramgarh, which he said will provide a fillip to the career aspirations of women in the State. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation for The Centre for Tribal Studies at Acharya Vinoba Bhave University in Hazaribag. This, he said, will encourage the study of tribal languages and culture.
He launched water supply schemes in areas inhabited by Particularly Vulnerable Tribe Groups (PVTG) and distributes cheques of Rs.2000 to select farmers for purchasing mobile phones under the e-NAM scheme.
Around 27 lakh farmers will get free smart phones under the scheme. In the first phase of the project, at least 21,778 farmers will get Rs 2,000 each as Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for buying smart phones, officials said.
“We want to free our farmers from the shackles of agents and middlemen, and our DBT schemes have helped us achieve this target to a large extent,” Modi said.
The water supply projects included Rs 517 crore drinking water project in Hazaribag and pending and new irrigation projects worth Rs 60 crore.
He also launched Gift Milk Scheme by distributing packaged milk to school students. The scheme is targeted at combating malnutrition in Jharkhand.
Under Namami Gange scheme, he launched Sahibganj Sewerage Treatment Plant.
The PM announced handing over of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to at least 5000 families and laid foundation for 15,000 more such houses for the poor.
