Kollam: Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially declared open the much-awaited Kollam bypass on National Highway-66 here on Tuesday.
The 13-km-long, two-lane bypass, with a project cost of Rs 352 crore, will cut the travel time between Alappuzha and Thiruvananthapuram districts and is expected to decongest the traffic in Kollam town.
The bypass has three major bridges over the Ashtamudi Lake, with a total length of 1,540 metres.
Dedicating the bypass to the nation, Modi said only 56 per cent of the rural habitat was connected with roads in the country when he came to power in 2014.
"On the banks of the Ashtamudi lake, I sense the recovery from the (August, 2018) floods. But we will have to fight harder. I congratulate you all on the completion of the bypass," he said.
"In our country, we often see many infrastructure projects getting stalled after inauguration. A huge amount of public money goes to waste," the prime minister said, adding that he evaluated the development projects and engaged in meetings with all departmental secretaries and state chief secretaries.
"Some projects get delayed for more than 20-30 years. It is a crime towards the common people," he said.
"When we assumed office, only 56 per cent of rural habitation was connected to roads and today 90 per cent have connectivity. Very soon it will be 100 per cent."
The prime minister said foreign tourist arrivals went up in the country from 70 lakh in 2013 to one crore in 2017, adding that foreign exchange earned due to tourism went up from $18 billion to $27 billion in the said period.
"India was among one of the fastest-growing tourist destinations in the world in 2017," he said.
'Ease of living is the goal'
The prime minister also said that the priority of his government was to provide ease of living to citizens.
"Ease of living is the commitment of my government and it was with this commitment that we gave the final sanction for this by-pass in January 2015. Now this has been completed. Several projects are in various stages of progress in Kerala," he said.
"The last man in the queue is my priority... We have set aside Rs 7,500 for the fisheries sector besides launching a cashless insurance scheme for the poor," added Modi.
"We have launched two special projects to develop tourism in heritage and religious places in Kerala and sanctioned Rs 550 crore for it."
'We fulfilled our promises'
The chief minister said his government had fulfilled the development promises made to the prime minister when it came to power in the state.
"Now I can proudly say that Kerala has fulfilled the promise given to the prime minister when we came to power. All these developments are for the welfare of the people," he said.
Meanwhile, Pinarayi Vijayan was upset when a section of the audience chanted Lord Ayyappa hymns when he was speaking.
"There are certain niceties to be observed in conduct during public meetings and all have to follow it," said an angry CM and then continued with his speech.
This was the prime minister's third official visit to Kollam. Modi's first visit to the district was in December 2015, when he had unveiled the statue of former Kerala chief minister R Sankar. He had also visited Kollam in April 2016, hours after the Puttingal fire tragedy that claimed over 100 lives.
Modi, who earlier arrived at Thiruvananthapuram in a special plane, was welcomed by Kerala Governor Justice (retd) P Sathasivam, Pinarayi Vijayan, officials and other leaders.