Modi lays foundation stone for seismological research institute

Gandhinagar, May 20 (UNI) After Japan, Gujarat will lead the world in seismology research, Chief Minister Narendra Modi today emphasised while laying the foundation stone of a Seismological Research Institute here.

Construction of the institute is scheduled to be completed within 18 months.

Mr Modi alleged that during Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee's reign as the prime minister, the Centre had assured to set up the institute in Gujarat at a cost of Rs 200 crore, but successive governments did not allow the project to fructify.

''With no aid forthcoming from the Centre, the Gujarat Government finally decided to set up the institute on its own,'' Mr Modi said while noting that his Government had also wanted to set up early warning system on the 1600-km coastline of Gujarat to warn against tsunami but the Congress-led government at the Centre never approved the project.

Meanwhile, Mr Modi said Gujarat is the first state in the country to have enacted the Disaster Management Act. After the 2001 earthquake, the entire world thought Gujarat would not rise again, but the state rose like a phoenix, he said. ''We have 20 permanent seismological observatory centres and 30 global positioning system to tackle any natural disaster,'' he said.

UNI