Protect rural India while making Urban India: Kalam

Ahmedabad, Feb 15 (UNI) President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam today said all the developmental activities should be well balanced for all around development of rural and urban sectors.

Speaking at the two-day long 'Vibrant Gujarat Urban Summit-2007', organised by the Gujarat government, at the Tagore Hall here, Dr Kalam said ''We need to chalk out a programme which envisages an integrated development plan with employment generation as the focus, driven by provision of the habitat, healthcare, education, skill development, physical as well as electronic connectivity and marketing in an integrated way.'' The government, private and public sectors have been taking up urban and rural development in parts, he added and urged all the partners opinion makers, planners, administrators to ensure that ''they protect Rural India, while making Urban India''.

Praising the Gujarat government and spirit of Gujarati people, the President said ''I am happy that the Gujarat government has taken action in solid waste management, rain water harvesting, improvement of Municipal and health services through innovative outsourcing model and provision of uninterrupted quality electric supply to all the villages of Gujarat. The overall effect of sound city management has been demonstrated through the fast transformation and recovery of Surat after plague and 2006 floods, reconstruction of Bhuj after the 2001 earthquake.'' ''This shows how the political system, bureaucratic system and executive system are working together with the full participation of people for providing quality services to all citizens. With this dynamic background of governance system, sensitive to the needs of the people, I would like to share my thoughts on development of urban oriented infrastructure in such a way that it will support the socio-economic activities of the surrounding rural clusters extending up to 20-30 km radially without causing additional urban pressure in the existing urban agglomeration in addition to the planned growth of the cities,'' he said.

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