Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the industrial city of Thoothukudi to launch multiple infrastructure projects on Wednesday. The projects included Outer Harbor Container Terminal at VO Chidambaranar Port, India’s first Green Hydrogen Hub Port, lighthouses and others.
The accumulated worth of all the projects is worth ₹17,300 crore in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi district.
Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in Thoothukudi and said that the projects symbolises the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ and that the state of Tamil Nadu is writing a new chapter of progress in Thoothukudi.
“Many projects are being inaugurated here. These projects are an important part of the roadmap for a developed India. One can also see the spirit of ‘Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat’ in these developments,” PM Modi said.
“With the efforts of the Central government today, India is creating new records in the field of maritime and waterways. In the last 10 years, India has climbed several places to 30th position in the Logistics Performance Index,” the Prime Minister further added.
He concluded his speech by talking about the growing employment opportunities in India.
He said, “Our port capacity has doubled in this decade, National Water wages have increased by eight times, and the number of cruise passengers in India has also increased by four times. In the coming times, the growth of the maritime sector is going to increase manifold and it will have a big impact on the coastal states as well as Tamil Nadu. This will provide many new employment opportunities for the youth..”
Before laying the foundation stones, Prime Minister had visited an exhibition on the country’s first Green Hydrogen Hub in Thoothukudi.
After that he also flagged off India’s first indigenous green hydrogen fuel cell inland waterway vessel under the Harit Nauka initiative. The vessel has been manufactured by the Cochin Shipyard and it underscores a building step towards embrace of clean energy solutions and also keeping it aligned with the net-zero commitments of the nation.
