Surat, Oct 16 (IANS) Surat district’s rural infrastructure will receive a boost through 143 development projects worth Rs 108 crore, while a mobile computer laboratory will take digital education to government schools in five blocks under an initiative launched by Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi on Friday.
Sanghavi laid the foundation stones for 104 projects worth Rs 100 crore and inaugurated 39 works costing Rs eight crore at the Surat district panchayat premises. Minister of State for Health, Praful Panseriya, attended the event.
The projects include roads connecting rural areas, irrigation schemes covering more than 60 villages, new Anganwadi centres and other public amenities.
The district panchayat said the works would improve access to essential facilities in rural areas.
The main initiative launched at the event was the ‘e-Kaksha bus’, a mobile computer laboratory developed by the district panchayat in collaboration with Toyota Kirloskar under the ‘Digital Classrooms on Wheels’ initiative.
Funded through Toyota’s corporate social responsibility funds, the bus is intended to provide computer education and digital literacy to children in remote villages.
Students from 10 to 15 government schools across five blocks of Surat district will be covered every month under the programme.
Flagging off the bus, Sanghavi urged village leaders to ensure that all available seats were occupied whenever it visited a school, so that students could make full use of the facility.
Underlining the state government’s focus on rural development, Sanghavi said: “The administration is working under Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s leadership to extend facilities to people in remote areas and improve opportunities for rural children and women.”
He also praised a suggestion from local elected representatives and the district panchayat team to provide reinforced cement concrete (RCC) slabs instead of sheet roofing to beneficiaries of government housing schemes.
He commended the district administration’s efforts to help families from the Halpati community obtain permanent houses at the earliest.
Sanghavi also referred to the economic activity generated during Navratri, saying the state government’s policy allowing garba celebrations to continue late into the night had created favourable business and employment opportunities for small traders, street vendors and restaurant operators.
He congratulated the Gujarat Police and the administration for maintaining security during celebrations, allowing people to participate in garba programmes until late at night.
He urged residents to treat public infrastructure as a shared asset and take responsibility for its upkeep. “Government Anganwadi centres, panchayat buildings and bus stations belonged to the community, and their cleanliness and maintenance were the collective responsibility of citizens,” he said.
Panseriya said the state government is working under the “Antyodaya” approach to strengthen education, healthcare, irrigation and employment facilities, with a focus on reaching the most disadvantaged sections of society.
“Investment in schools and healthcare centres in rural areas is helping strengthen basic infrastructure,” he noted.
Referring to Surat’s growth, Panseriya said the development path initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was Gujarat’s chief minister in 2001 had helped extend improved facilities to remote villages.
On healthcare, he said: “Gujarat had made progress in efforts to eliminate tuberculosis, address malnutrition and reduce maternal and child mortality.”
He credited the sustained work of the administrative machinery and the government’s leadership for the progress.
Surat District Panchayat president Samirbhai Modi said the development projects would improve access to healthcare and road infrastructure in rural areas.
“The e-Kaksha bus would help bring modern educational facilities to students in villages and thanked Toyota for supporting the initiative,” he added.
–IANS
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