Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday pledged to make India a developed country by 2047.
The Prime Minister, who is on a day-long visit to Kutch, said: "After the devastating 2001 earthquake, I had assured to develop the district and in 2022, see how well it has developed. Today I am promising to make India a developed country by 2047 and will surely do it."
Earlier in the day, he dedicated 'Smriti Van' in Bhuj and 'Veer Balak Smarak' in Anjar, in memory of those who died in the massive earthquake. The two memorials, he said, will put Kutch on the world map like Japan's Hiroshima museum.
Prime Minister Modi said he was in Delhi when the earthquake struck but rushed to Gujarat the very next day.
Gujarat was the first state to introduce Disaster Management Act, which later inspired the rest of the nation, he stated.
This morning, he laid the foundation for new projects and dedicated them to the nation projects worth Rs 5,000 crore. The PM said that Sarhad Dairy was inaugurated when he was the chief minister of the state. Back then, its daily milk collection was 1,400 litres which has increased to 5 lakh litre a day. Milk producers are making Rs 800 crore by contributing milk in the dairy.
In the last 20 years, Kutch has got 45 new colleges, 1,000 new schools, 250 hospitals, and thousands of check dams. It has got the first earthquake resistant hospital in the country, Modi said.
He remembered all his old friends from Kutch who had contributed to its development.