New Delhi, March 6 -- 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 CMs 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.
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.
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 CM 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 CM Nitish Kumar. The NDA coalition will win more than 400 seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls in the country."
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.