Asserting the significance of developing hill states and villages located on the border, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged all Indian tourists to set aside 5% of their travel budget to buy local products while visiting various places across the country. “This will give a big push to local products and will give immense satisfaction to you too,” he said. Modi visited Uttarakhand on Friday to offer prayers at the Kedarnath and Badrinath shrines. During his visit, he laid the foundation stone for projects worth ₹3,400 crore that include ropeways from Gaurikund to Kedarnath and from Govindghat to Hemkund Sahib, the revered shrine of the Sikhs. These will reduce travel time to just 30 to 45 minutes.

Modi also laid the foundation stone of road widening projects worth around ₹1,000 crore. The two road widening projects — from Mana to Mana Pass (NH07) and from Joshimath to Malari (NH107B) — shall be another step towards providing last-mile all-weather road connectivity to the border areas. These projects will help locals and tourists boost connectivity and are beneficial from a strategic point of view as well.He also reviewed the progress along Mandakini Asthapath and Saraswati Asthapath.

“For me, every village at the border is the first village of the country and the people residing near the border make for the country’s strong guard…We started working from these border areas, marking them as the beginning of prosperity. We are making efforts so that border areas have a vibrant life,” Modi said at a public meeting in Mana village situated on the Indo-Tibetan border.