Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a campaign in Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh, to set up 10,000 new farm producer organisations (FPOs) across the country in the next five years. The FPOs aim to increase the income of the farmers and to empower them.
Addressing a function to commemorate the first anniversary of the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, Modi said FPOs will help farmers to get their produce to market and process the crops along with producing them.
Modi also distributed Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) to 10 beneficiaries. The KCCs are being distributed to farmers from 28,000 branches of banks across the country on Saturday as part of a special campaign by the government. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Governor Anandiben Patel also attended the event.
PM also laid the foundation stone for nearly 300 km long Bundelkhand Expressway in Chitrakoot and said it will play a vital role in expediting the work for the defence corridor and also boost the economy of the backward region.
He said, “The expressway will also serve the UP's Defence Industrial Corridor and open up plenty of job opportunities.”
The Expressway is to be built at a cost of nearly Rs 15,000 cr and it will connect the Bundelkhand region to the national capital region in north. It will pass through Chitrakoot, Banda, Hamirpur and Jalaun districts and is expected to also transform Mahoba, Auraiya and Etawah districts in the state of UP.
Earlier in the day, PM addressed a rally in Prayagraj and distributed assistive devices to differently abled citizens. "During the time of earlier governments, such distribution camps were hardly organised, and such mega camps were very rare. In the last five years, our government has set up about 9,000 camps in different parts of the country," PM Modi said.
"It's the government's responsibility that everyone should get justice. This is also the basis for sabka saath sabka vikaas (development for everyone). It is with this thought that our government is working to better the lives of each and every section of society,” he said.
