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Shah was speaking after inaugurating the ‘Seemadarshan’ tourism project at Nadabet along the India-Pakistan border in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district.
The project has several attractions, including the ‘Beating Retreat’ ceremony, on the lines of the exercise held on the Wagah-Attari border in Punjab.
Shah said such a tourism project here in Gujarat will help generate employment and stop migration of people from border villages. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken several initiatives to develop border infrastructure with an aim to enhance border security and the Seemadarshan project is one of them, he said.
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Shah said Prime Minister Modi had dreamt of developing border tourism and also took several initiatives to develop infrastructure with the aim to enhance border security.
Praising the BSF’s contribution towards the nation’s security from both external and internal enemies, Shah said the country is safe, developing and moving rapidly at the global level because of the BSF jawans who are deployed in harsh conditions, thousands of kilometres away from their families.
”The BSF holds several medals and carries with it stories of supreme sacrifice. The entire country takes pride in the bravery shown by the BSF,” the Union minister said.
Shah said unless a person visits and sees for himself the multifaceted ‘Seemadarshan’ project, he will not be able to understand it properly. ”Only when you visit Nadabet and go to the border, you will know under what difficult conditions our security force works. It will instill a feeling of patriotism among children,” he said.
Shah said a boost to local tourism due to the project will help resolve the issue of migration of people from border villages in search of work.
”I can very well imagine that the Nadabet border tourism project will generate employment for at least five lakh people of Banaskantha district,” he said.
The Rs 125 crore tourism project aims to offer citizens an opportunity to see first hand the lifestyle of BSF personnel deployed at the Indo-Pak border to protect the country. The people would get to observe their living conditions, their duties and patriotism, as per a government statement.
Tourist facilities and special attractions at the site include arrival plazas, a lounge, parking facilities, an auditorium with a seating capacity of 500 people, a changing room, shops and restaurants, a ‘Sarhad Gatha’ exhibition centre and museum, decorative lighting, solar tree and solar rooftop panels.
A monument, titled ‘Ajay Prahari’, has been erected at the site in the memory of soldiers who sacrificed their lives while protecting the nation. Tourists will also be able to see various weapons of the Indian Army and BSF, such as surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, T-55 tanks, artillery guns, torpedoes, wing drop tanks and MiG-27 aircraft, the government release said.