Panaji: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday recalled his past as a 'Chai Wala' while interacting with a differently-abled vendor selling tea in Goa due to a digital programme. Modi interacted with selected beneficiaries and stakeholders of 'Atmanirbhar Bharat Swayampurna Goa Programme' through video conference. He told Roorkee Ahmed Rajasaheb, a disabled businessman and para table tennis player of Vasco city, ''You are also a Chai Wala like me.” Rajasaheb runs a tea shop outside the bus stand of Kadamba Transport Corporation.

The same Rajasaheb is one of the beneficiaries of the Divyang category of the 'Swayampurna Goa' program, an extension of the Central Government's 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' initiative. He told PM Modi how he participated in the camp for the "Swayampurna Goa" scheme in December 2020 and became a beneficiary after that. Modi said that the central government is working to give a dignified life to the differently-abled. He said, "The government is with you. If you progress, the country will progress.''

At the same time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the central government has allocated Rs 500 crore to the state for the modernization of rural infrastructure in Goa. Interacting with the beneficiaries of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Swayampurna Goa programme, the Prime Minister said, ''The infrastructure being developed in Goa will help increase the income of farmers, livestock farmers and fishermen. This year, the rural infrastructure in Goa will be modernized. It has been increased five times as compared to earlier.''

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