PM launches projects worth over Rs 13,000 crore in Bihar

Gayaji/Begusarai (Bihar), Aug 22 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched several development projects worth over Rs 13,000 crore from Bihar's Gayaji and Begusarai districts, officials said.

The PM inaugurated the 600 MW Buxar Thermal Power Plant, worth around Rs 6,880 crore, and the 1.86-km-long Aunta-Simaria Bridge, constructed at a cost of over Rs 1,870 crore, on the Ganga River, connecting Mokama in Patna district with Begusarai.

After the inauguration of the Aunta-Simaria Bridge, the PM stood on the bridge and waved at crowds, holding the hand of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The PM also flagged off two trains -- Amrit Bharat Express between Gayaji and Delhi and Buddhist Circuit train between Vaishali and Koderma. The latter will give a boost to tourism and pilgrimage across key Buddhist sites in the region.

The Buxar Thermal Power Plant will significantly enhance power generation capacity, improve energy security, and meet the growing electricity demand of the region, they said.

Bihar Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and several Union ministers, state ministers, MPs and MLAs were also present at the Gayaji function.

The PM also inaugurated the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre at Muzaffarpur.

The medical facility includes advanced oncology OPD and IPD wards, operation theatres, modern laboratories, blood bank, and a 24-bed ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and HDU (High Dependency Unit), they said.

This state-of-the-art facility will provide advanced and affordable cancer care to patients in Bihar and neighbouring states, reducing the need to travel to distant metro cities for treatment.

The PM also inaugurated a sewerage treatment plant (STP) and sewerage network at Munger, constructed under the Namami Gange programme, worth over Rs 520 crore. It will help reduce pollution load in the Ganga and improve sanitation facilities in the region, they said.

The PM also laid the foundation stone for a series of urban infrastructure projects worth around Rs 1,260 crore.

These include the STP and sewerage network at Daudnagar in Aurangabad, and Jehanabad; STP and interception and diversion work at Barahiya in Lakhisarai, and Jamui.

Under the Under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT 2.0), he laid the foundation stone of water supply projects at Aurangabad, Bodh Gaya and Jehanabad.

A 'griha pravesh' ceremony of 12,000 rural beneficiaries under PMAY-Gramin and 4,260 beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U) also took place with the symbolic handing over of keys to a few beneficiaries by the PM.

The PM also inaugurated the four-lane Bakhtiyarpur to Mokama section of NH-31, worth around Rs 1,900 crore, which will ease congestion, reduce travel time, and enhance passenger and freight movement.

The Aunta-Simaria Bridge has been constructed parallel to an old two-lane dilapidated rail-cum-road bridge 'Rajendra Setu', which is in poor condition, forcing heavy vehicles to re-route.

"The new bridge will reduce the additional travel distance of more than 100 km for the heavy vehicles travelling between north Bihar (Begusarai, Supaul, Madhubani, Purnea, Araria) and south Bihar (Sheikhpura, Nawada and Lakhisarai).

"It will also help reduce traffic jams in other parts of the region due to the detour that these vehicles were forced to take," an official said.

The bridge will boost economic growth in the adjoining areas, especially in north Bihar, which are dependent on south Bihar and Jharkhand for various goods.

It will also provide better connectivity to the renowned pilgrimage of Simaria Dham, which is also the birthplace of the famous poet, the late Ramdhari Singh Dinkar.

The bridge is designed to support heavy vehicular load and serve as a modern, robust alternative to the 70-year-old Rajendra Setu nearby, a statement issued by the private firm that built the bridge said.

The project overcame complex logistical and environmental hurdles, including strong currents of the Ganga, high water tables, soft riverbed soil and challenging social dynamics, it added. PTI PKD ACD