Surat, 23 February 2014

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, in the presence of well-known Olympian Milkha Singh, flagged-off the India’s biggest Surat-Night Marathon held in the diamond city of Surat this evening.

Speaking at the inaugural function of the Marathon, Mr Modi described the event as an initiative to introduce the Power of Unity to “awaken the feelings of the people for the society.”

The Surat Night Marathon was organized for the people’s benefits, jointly by the Surat Mahanagar Sevasadan and Samaj Shakti. The Marathon had attracted over 66,000 runners. The revenue generated through this Marathon will be utilized for setting up CCTV, Surveillances projects at the public places in the city and for the medical treatment of the cancer patients.

The Chief Minister also laid foundation stones and dedicated in total four public projects of the people’s welfare organised by the Surat Mahangar Palika. These projects estimated at total cost of Rs 175-Cr.

The two projects Mr Modi dedicated to the people of the Surat city were two fly-over bridges constructed for the city’s Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRTS). And he also laid foundation stones for two public projects – construction of new houses under the Chief Minister Housing Scheme and road-drainage-pipeline works.

A cheque of Rs 51-Lac was handed over to the Chief Minister by the Gujarat Information Commissioner Mr Bhagyesh Jha for the Gujarat Information Department’s fortnightly magazine ‘Gujarat’ as a people’s contribution. Major contributions to the donation of Rs 51-Lac cheque were made by the various organizations, groups and government departments. This donation will be utilized for free home-delivery of the Magazine ‘Gujarat’ to over 1.10-Lac students of 81 different colleges.

Mr Modi also released the first-copy of the book ‘Anubhuti’ and its e-book prepared by the Gujarat Information Department.