Daijiworld Media Network- Patna
Patna, Aug 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a crucial two-state tour of Bihar and West Bengal on Thursday, unveiling and inaugurating projects worth over Rs 18,000 crore, with Rs 13,000 crore invested in Bihar and Rs 5,200 crore in Bengal.
The Bihar leg of the visit began in Gaya, where PM Modi inaugurated the 660 MW power project at Buxar, constructed at a cost of Rs 6,880 crore. He also dedicated the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre at Muzaffarpur, enhancing healthcare access in north Bihar.
In Munger, the Prime Minister inaugurated a Rs 520 crore sewage treatment plant under the Namami Gange programme, and launched a set of urban infrastructure projects across the state, valued at about Rs 1,260 crore.
At Gaya Railway Station, Modi flagged off two key trains – the Amrit Bharat Express connecting Gaya with Delhi, and a special Buddhist Circuit train linking Vaishali in Bihar with Koderma in Jharkhand. In addition, symbolic keys were handed over to 12,000 beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin), providing affordable rural housing.
The Prime Minister later inaugurated the 8.15 km Aunta-Simaria bridge, including a six-lane, 1.86 km stretch connecting Mokama in Patna district with Simaria in Begusarai, aimed at strengthening regional connectivity.
The high-profile visit to Bihar comes amid heightened political activity in the state, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi currently on his ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’, focusing on electoral reforms ahead of the assembly polls later this year.
In the second leg of his tour, Modi reached Kolkata in the evening. At 4:15 pm, he inaugurated three new stretches of the Kolkata Metro, adding 13.62 km to the network. These include the Sealdah–Esplanade corridor (2.45 km), Noapara–Jai Hind Bimanbandar route (6.77 km), and Hemanta Mukhopadhyay–Beleghata line (4.39 km).
The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for a 7.2 km elevated corridor on the Kona Expressway, valued at over Rs 1,200 crore, designed to ease congestion and improve connectivity between Howrah and Kolkata.