PM to unveil rail, telecom projects in Odisha on Sep 27

Bhubaneswar, Sep 26 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit Odisha on September 27 during which he will flag off an Amrit Bharat Express, unveil railway projects worth Rs 1,700 crore and BSNL's 'Swadeshi' 4G stack.

From Jharsuguda, he will also announce the expansion of eight IITs, grant super-specialty status to MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur and VIMSAR hospital in Sambalpur, launch a national skill development programme and provide aid to 50,000 beneficiaries under the Antyodaya scheme.

This will be the Prime Minister's sixth visit to Odisha in 15 months since the BJP came to power in the state in June, 2024.

Initially, the place for his public meeting was fixed at Berhampur in Ganjam district, but it was later changed to Jharsuguda due to a forecast of heavy rain in southern Odisha on Saturday.

However, according to the mid-day bulletin issued by the IMD on Friday, Jharsuguda, the place where Modi will address a public meeting, is among the nine districts where thunderstorm/lightning with gusty surface wind speed reaching 20-30 kmph gusting to 40 kmph, is likely to occur.

“We have made preparations for holding the PM’s event keeping in view the weather conditions,” a senior minister, who along with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, inspected the meeting venue.

Apart from the CM, several cabinet ministers, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, DGP YB Khurania and others visited the spot.

“The chief minister, during his visit to the meeting venue on Thursday found certain lapses and directed the authorities to correct them much before the arrival of Modi,” a minister said.

The PM’s tour on Saturday will be unique in the sense that he has never visited any other state so many times in little more than a year, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari, who is in charge of the meeting venue at Jharsuguda, said.

"This shows his love for Odisha and his commitment to the development of the state under his Purvodaya Mission,” he said.

All the previous five visits of the Prime Minister since June 2024, were confined to Bhubaneswar. On Saturday, he will address the ‘Namo Yuva Samabesh’ at Amlipali Ground, close to Veer Surendra Sai (VSS) Airport at Jharsuguda.

According to the schedule, the PM will arrive at the meeting venue at 11.25 AM and make departure from Odisha at about 12.45 pm.

Modi will flag off the Amrit Bharat Express connecting Berhampur with Udhna in Gujarat’s Surat district via video conference. He will also inaugurate a 5 km flyover at Sambalpur City built at a cost of Rs 273 crore.

Modi will unveil state-owned BSNL's 'Swadeshi' 4G stack, marking India's entry into a coveted league of nations that produce and manufacture telecom equipment. The India-made network is cloud-based, future-ready and can upgrade seamlessly to 5G.

In the state's southern region, Modi will dedicate the doubling of the 34-km Koraput–Baiguda rail line and the 82-km Manabar–Koraput–Gorapur section, built at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore, officials said. These upgrades will power mineral transport and open fresh pathways for growth in southern Odisha, benefiting industries and local communities alike, an official statement said.

Taking to X, the CM said, “Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji is coming to Odisha tomorrow to further advance the vision of a Prosperous Odisha and a Developed India. Let us come together in large numbers to participate in this program and take forward Odisha's development trajectory.” PTI AAM NN