Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that Cow is our mother and is sacred to us, adding, those making jokes on cows, buffaloes forget livelihood of crores depend on them.
He was speaking at a rally in Varanasi after inaugurating and laying the foundation stone for 22 development projects worth Rs 870 crores in his Lok Sabha constituency
Before the inauguration, the Prime Minister reviewed the development projects along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of 'Banas Dairy Sankul' at UP State Industrial Development Authority Food Park, Karkhiyaon, Varanasi. Spread across 30 acres of land, the dairy will be built at a cost of about Rs 475 crores and will have a facility for processing 5 lakh litres of milk per day.
PM Modi digitally transferred about Rs 35 crore bonus to the bank accounts of more than 1.7 lakh milk producers associated with Banas Dairy.
He also laid the foundation stone for the Biogas based Electricity generation plant for the Milk Producers Cooperative Union Plant, Ramnagar, Varanasi.
PM Modi also launched a portal and logo dedicated to the Conformity Assessment Scheme of milk products, developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) with the help of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
According to Prime Minister's Office (PMO), the unified logo, featuring logos of both BIS and NDDB quality mark will simplify the certification process for the dairy sector and will reassure the public about dairy product quality.
Prime Minister virtually distributed the rural residential rights record 'Gharauni' under the Swamitva scheme of Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj, to over 20 Lakh residents of Uttar Pradesh.
He also inaugurated multiple urban development projects in Varanasi. These include six projects of the redevelopment of Old Kashi wards, a parking and surface park at Beniabag, beautification of two ponds, one sewage treatment plant at village Ramna and provisioning of advanced surveillance cameras at 720 locations under Smart City Mission.
PM Modi inaugurated a 50-bed Integrated Ayush Hospital at Bhadrasi. He also laid the foundation of Rs 49 crore Government Homeopathic Medical College in tehsil Pindra under the Ayush Mission.
Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of two '4 to 6 lane' road widening projects for the Prayagraj and Bhadohi roads. The projects are believed to improve the connectivity of Varanasi and will be a step towards resolving the problem of the city's traffic congestion.
Other projects inaugurated by the Prime Minister include a Speed Breeding Facility at International Rice Research Institute, South Asia Regional Centre Varanasi, a Regional Reference Standards Laboratory at village Payakpur and an Advocate building at Tehsil Pindra.
Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh are slated for early next year.
(With inputs from ANI)
