NEW DELHI: On October 26, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Maharashtra and Goa to introduce development projects and kick off the National Games. For the first time, he will officially open the 37th National Games, which are being hosted in Goa. By 1:00 pm, the prime minister would arrive in Shirdi, Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar district, and perform “pooja and darshan” at the Saibaba Samadhi Temple. At the temple, he will also open the recently constructed Darshan Queue Complex.The Prime Minister will conduct the Nilwande Dam Jal Pujan and dedicate the dam’s canal network to the people at 2:00 p.m. The Prime Minister will be in Shirdi at around 3:15 pm to attend a public programme. There, he will inaugurate, dedicate to the nation, and lay the cornerstone of several development projects worth approximately Rs 7500 crore in the areas of health, train, road, and oil and gas. According to a PMO statement, the new Darshan Queue complex in Shirdi, which the prime minister will inaugurate, is a cutting-edge, megastructure designed to give devotees pleasant waiting rooms. There are multiple waiting areas with a combined capacity to accommodate over 10,000 devotees.Air-conditioned public facilities, including cloakrooms, restrooms, booking desks, prasad kiosks, and an information centre, are available. The Prime Minister laid the cornerstone for the new Darshan Queue Complex in October 2018. The left bank (85 km) canal network of the Nilwande Dam will be dedicated to the country by the prime minister. Through the facilitation of water pipe distribution networks, it will assist 182 villages from seven tehsils—six in the district of Ahmednagar and one in the district of Nashik. Nilwande Dam was initially envisioned in 1970. The project is being developed for approximately Rs 5177 crore.The ‘Namo Shetkari Mahasanman Nidhi Yojana’ will be introduced by the Prime Minister during the public function. “The Yojna will benefit more than 86 lakh beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana in Maharashtra, by providing an additional amount of Rs 6000 per year to them,” stated the statement. The Prime Minister will lay the groundwork for and dedicate a number of development projects to the country, such as the Ayush Hospital at Ahmednagar Civil Hospital, the third and fourth railway lines connecting Jalgaon to Bhusaval (24.46 km), the four-laning of the Sangli to Borgaon section of NH-166 (Package-I), and additional facilities at Indian Oil Corporation Limited’s Manmad Terminal. The Prime Minister will dedicate the Ahmednagar Civil Hospital’s Maternal and Child Health Wing. The Prime Minister will also give beneficiaries their Svamitva and Ayushman cards during the programme. The Prime Minister will open the National Games at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Margao, Goa, during his visit to the state. He will also speak to the competing athletes.More than 10,000 participants from all throughout the nation will compete in over 43 sports disciplines across 28 locations during the Games, which will take place from October 26 to November 9. The statement said that under PM Modi’s leadership, the nation’s sports culture had completely changed. “With the help of continuous government support, the performance of athletes has witnessed tremendous improvement at the international level,” added the statement.According to the statement, the nation is hosting the National Games in recognition of the value of hosting competitions at the national level to recognise elite athletes and increase sports’ appeal.
