Gorakhpur: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday laid the foundation stones of an All India Medical Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and a fertiliser plant in Gorakhpur and said this would spur development in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

Addressing a large gathering after the foundation laying ceremony, Modi initially addressed the crowd in Bhojpuri amid loud applause from the people. Recalling the large turnout of people at his election rally in January 2014, the Prime Minister said Friday’s rally had broken the record of that event.

He credited the new projects to Bharatiya Janata Party’s Lok Sabha member from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, and said he respected Yogi because he has fought and worked hard for development in this area. The Prime Minister detailed a string of schemes, development schemes and pro-poor policies his government has started for the people and farmers.

He also informed the crowd that it was because of various innovations that urea was now freely available for the farmers and that day of fertiliser black marketing were a thing of past. Amid cheering from the people who had braved incessant rains to attend the rally, Modi assured all help and cooperation for the development of the region and Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier, Modi drove to the Gorakshnath temple in the city and paid obeisance tote idol. Addressing a select gathering there, he said his government had set rolling a process of development which will usher in prosperity for all. He also remembered Mahant Avaidnath and said he knew the seer from the time when he was not in politics and that he had learnt compassion from the late saint.

In his welcome address, Yogi Adityanath said he was thankful on behalf of the seven crore people of Poorvanchal that the Union government has decided to set up a fertiliser plant and AIIMS in Gorakhpur. “Six prime ministers have come and gone but the fertiliser plant that was closed since 1990 has now been reopened by Modi,” he said.

He also added that setting up of AIIMS will combat encephalitis, among other diseases, which has killed more than 50,000 children in 38 years in the region and would also arrest migration of youth from the area. Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal informed the gathering that in the last two years 1,364 villages have been electrified.