By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, January 15, 2019: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that his government has saved Rs 90,000 crore by filtering 60 million fake beneficiaries.

Lauding the efforts of his government in curbing corruption, Modi told at a public rally at western Odisha town of Bolangir, “In the last four years, we have cancelled around 60 million fake ration cards, gas connections, student scholarships and old age pensions. We plugged this leakage, saving crores of money. My pro-poor decisions have enraged people who used to loot public money. They have now been deprived of the opportunities to plunder public money.”

Saying that the six crore fake beneficiaries exceeded Odisha’s population, Modi talked about weeding out the corrupt practices by digitalizing 100 per cent of ration cards. “Every eight out of 10 ration cards have been seeded with Aadhar card”, he reiterated.

Modi slammed the Odisha government for its inability to spend Rs 4000 crore funds accrued to the District Mineral Foundation (DMF).

This was Modi’s third Odisha in three weeks. He unveiled a slew of projects, mostly in Railways sector, worth Rs 1,550 crore.

Modi inaugurated the Bolangir-Bichhupali railway line and laid the foundation stone for a permanent building at the Kendriya Vidyalaya at Sonepur and inaugurated new Passport Sewa Kendras at Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapur, Puri, Phulbani, Bargarh and Balangir

Addressing the gathering during the inaugural event, the Prime Minister said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is committed towards the development of Odisha.

“The BJP government is committed towards the development of Odisha. In past one month, I have visited the state thrice. When a region has good connectivity, it positively impacts all sectors, especially the tourism sector. Today, new passport service centres have started in Kendrapara, Puri, Jagatsingh, Bargarh, Kandhamal, and Balangir. Now the people here do not need to go too far for a passport,” he said.

The Prime Minister also launched six Ministry of Railways projects, including the launch of 813 kilometres of electrified lines from Jharsuguda to Vizianagaram and Sambalpur to Angul. Prime Minister Modi also dedicated a Multi-Modal Logistics Park (MMLP) Jharsuguda, which will facilitate Import/Export and Domestic Cargo, including Private Freight Traffic (PFT).

On his first visit, to Khurdha in December, the Prime Minister launched Rs 14,523 crore worth projects in the state and during his second visit on January 5, he inaugurated projects worth Rs 4,733 crores, taking the total amount of projects in Odisha to Rs. 20,801 crores in the past month.