Bettiah, Bihar:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday unveiled projects worth Rs 12,800 crore in Bihar’s West Champaran district.

Speaking on the occasion, he said the biggest beneficiaries of the projects would be the youths who are looking for employment.

The PM unveiled the projects at a function, ‘Viksit Bharat-Viksit Bihar’, in Bettiah, the district headquarters of West Champaran.

Governor Rajendra V Arlekar, Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and state minister and JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary were among those present at the programme.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was, however, not present at the event.

The PM laid the foundation stone and dedicated to the nation multiple infrastructure projects related to rail, road, petroleum and natural gas.

He noted that all the rail lines being laid or trains being flagged off in the country are completely made in India, thereby creating employment.

PM Modi stated that the modern rail engine manufacturing factories in Bihar have been initiated by the present government.

He inaugurated a 109-km-long Indian Oil’s Muzaffarpur-Motihari LPG pipeline that will provide access to cleaner cooking fuel in the state and also in Nepal.

PM Modi dedicated to the nation Indian Oil’s LPG bottling plant and storage terminal at Motihari.

The new terminal would also act as a strategic supply point for the export of petroleum products to Nepal, besides the eight districts of north Bihar.

The new bottling plant at Motihari will also make the supply chain smoother in feeding markets attached to the facility, an official statement said.

PM Modi laid the foundation stone of the city gas distribution project in East and West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan and Deoria, and grain-based ethanol facilities at Sugauli and Lauriya.

The PM inaugurated the two-laning of the Piprakothi-Motihari-Raxaul section of the National Highway-28A and the two-laning of the Sheohar-Sitamarhi section of NH-104.

PM Modi also laid the foundation stone for several projects, including the construction of a six-lane cable bridge on the Ganga river, parallel to the Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge at Patna, and four-laning of Bakarpur Hat-Manikpur section of NH-19 bypass.

He said work is going on over a dozen bridges in Bihar with the allocation of Rs 22,000 crore, including five such structures on the mighty river.

Among the railway projects, the prime minister dedicated to the nation the doubling of the 62-km line from Bapudham Motihari to Piprahan and the gauge conversion of the Narkatiaganj-Gaunaha section.

He laid the foundation stone for the doubling and electrification of the 96-km-long Gorakhpur Cantt-Valmiki Nagar rail line and the redevelopment of Bettiah station.

He flagged off two trains in the Narkatiaganj-Gaunaha and Raxaul-Jogbani sections.

While speaking on the occasion, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary, slammed RJD leader Lalu Prasad for his comments on PM Modi’s family and said the entire country and 14 crore people of Bihar are the PM’s family.

The NDA will win “all 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar” in the coming parliamentary polls, he said.

Echoing a similar view, senior JD(U) leader and Bihar Education Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said, “Now things will move faster and Bihar will touch new heights of development under the leadership of PM Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The NDA coalition will win more than 400 seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls in the county.” 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday unveiled a series of oil and gas sector projects worth about Rs 1.62 lakh crore across the country from Bihar’s Begusarai district.

The projects are spread across various states like Bihar, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab and Karnataka.

Speaking on the occasion, the PM said he arrived in Begusarai with the resolution of developing Bihar through the ‘Viksit Bharat’ programme.

He also said that Begusrai is a land of talented youths and has always strengthened farmers and workers.

The prime minister asserted that the development projects, which were unveiled during the day, would help make India the third-largest economic power in the world, and pave the way for prosperity of Bihar.

The PM also flagged off four trains, including the Danapur-Jogbani Express (via Darbhanga-Sakri). Trains from Jogbani to Saharsa and Siliguri and Sonpur-Vaishali Express were also flagged off.

Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CMs Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha were present on the occasion.

The PM dedicated to the nation the ‘First Oil’ from KG Basin and flagged off the first crude oil tanker from the ONGC Krishna Godavari deepwater project and said these will boost self-reliance in the oil and gas sector.

The oil and gas projects heralded a new era in India’s energy sector, promising to bolster energy security and foster economic resilience.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep S Puri, said, “Deeply privileged to witness the historic inauguration/laying foundation stones of 45 development projects worth Rs 1.62 lakh crore by PM Modi Ji from Begusarai today.” Among these projects, several initiatives worth about Rs 14,000 crore were taken up for Bihar.

The foundation stone was laid for the expansion of the Barauni Refinery with a cost of more than Rs 11,400 crore and projects like grid infrastructure at Barauni, Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG pipeline’s extension to Patna and Muzaffarpur were inaugurated.

Expansion of the Panipat Refinery & Petrochemical Complex in Haryana, Visakh Refinery Modernization Project (VRMP) in Andhra Pradesh, city gas distribution network encompassing Fazilka, Ganganagar, and Hanumangarh districts of Punjab, and new POL depot at Gulbarga in Karnataka are among the oil and gas projects.

The prime minister also laid the foundation stone for the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE), Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.

PM Modi inaugurated the Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Ltd (HURL) fertilizer plant in Barauni. Developed at more than Rs 9,500 crore, the plant will provide affordable urea to farmers and lead to an increase in their productivity and financial stability.

The PM also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for several railway projects worth about Rs 3,917 crore.

These include the project for Raghopur-Forbesganj gauge conversion, doubling of the Mukuria-Katihar-Kumedpur rail line, Barauni-Bachhwara third and fourth line and electrification of the Katihar-Jogbani rail section. These projects will make travel more accessible and lead to the socio-economic development of the region.

He dedicated to the nation ‘Bharat Pashudhan’ – a digital database for livestock animals in the country. Under the project, out of an estimated 30.5 crore bovines, about 29.6 crore have already been tagged with identity and their details are available in the database.

‘Bharat Pashudhan’ will empower farmers by providing them with a traceability system for bovines and also help in disease monitoring and control.

The PM also launched the ‘1962 Farmers App’ for records of all data and information present under the ‘Bharat Pashudhan’ database, which can be utilised by farmers. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Aurangabad:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled development projects worth Rs 21,400 crore in Bihar’s Aurangabad district on Saturday.

The PM unveiled the projects at an official function in Ratanwa village.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Governor Rajendra V Arlekar, Deputy Chief Ministers Samat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and several Union ministers were among those present at the programme.

This is PM Modi’s first visit to Bihar since the BJP-led NDA returned to power in the state after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), dumped the Mahagathbandhan.

Addressing the programme, Nitish Kumar told the prime minister that he would remain in the NDA forever.

PM Modi unveiled national highway projects worth over Rs 18,000 crore. He also laid the foundation stone for a six-lane bridge over the Ganga, which will be constructed parallel to the existing JP Ganga Setu.

He dedicated to the nation three railway projects, which include the doubling of the Pataliputra-Pahleja line and a 26-km-long new line between Bandhua and Paimar.

The PM also inaugurated 12 projects worth over 2,190 crore under the Namami Gange scheme. These include sewerage treatment plants in Patna, Sonepur, Naugachia, and Chapra.

He also laid the foundation stone of Unity Mall in Patna, which will be constructed at a cost of over Rs 200 crore, and provide a boost to the ‘One District, One Product’ project. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)