Patan district in Gujarat gets SIR, 3 new talukas

Chief minister Narendra Modi on Sunday announced a development package of Rs2000 crore for Patan district (including ongoing works worth Rs275 crore) and a Special Investment Region (SIR) at Santalpur- Radhanpur in the district.

He also announced the creation of three new talukas in Patan district. These are: Saraswati, Shankheshwar and Suigam. The CM made these announcements while speaking at the Vivekannd Yuva Parishad in Patan.

Saraswati taluka will include Patan taluka and some villages of Vagdod taluka. Shankheshwar taluka will be carved out of the current Sami taluka while Suigam taluka will be formed by splitting Vaav taluka of neighboring Banaskantha district.All the three talukas will start functioning from January 26, 2012.

Apart from the development package, Modi also announced details of plans to rejuvenate the district’s dry land. He said that in the coming days, the Narmada canal project will benefit 4.26 lakh hectare land in 283 villages of Patan.

The chief minister also laid stress on the need to bring economic development in the region through industrialization. To attract industries to the region, he said an SIR will come up at Santalpur- Radhanpur in Patan district.

Earlier in the day before he addressed the Vivekananda Yuva Parishad, Modi inaugurated the GMRS Medical College and Hospital campus in Dharpur at Patan. The newly built college hospital is spread over 65 acres and has been built at a cost of Rs300 crore. The chief minister said this was the first medical college to come up in north Gujarat in the last 50 years.

Modi resumed the BJP’s Swami Vivekanand Yuva Vikas Yatra at Patan and from there he went to Limbdi in Surendranagar. In Limdi to he addressed the local people and criticized the Congress for “misleading the people through its media campaign”.

BJP MP Purushottam Rupala also attacked the Congress for “widespread corruption” and seeking votes allegedly by making unreal promises. According to him, when Modi took over as CM, the state’s budget was only Rs6000 crore. Now, it is over Rs1 lakh crore, Rupala said.