PM to inaugurate Jharkhand power grid Thursday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will Thursday inaugurate a power grid and transmission circuit, a gas pipeline project and reinvigorate the NTPC plant in Jharkhand, an official said Wednesday.

Modi will arrive in Ranchi around 11 a.m. Thursday and directly go to Prabhat Tara ground here by helicopter at 11.30 a.m.

He will inaugurate online the 765/400 KV power grid and transmission circuit constructed by the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.

He will also inaugurate a gas pipeline project of IOCL and reinvigorate the NTPC plant at North Karanpura in Tandwa that was pending for the past 16 years.

The transmission line constructed at a cost of Rs.700 crore will connect the state with other transmission lines of the country.

Two union ministers Piyush Goyal (Minister of State for Power) and Dharmendra Pradhan (Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas) will be present on the occasion.

Goyal arrived in Ranchi Wednesday and reviewed the inauguration programme with Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmad and the chief minister will also attend the function.

This is Modi's first visit to Jharkhand after the Lok Sabha election.

Heavy security arrangements have been made. "As many as 70 magistrates and more than 3,000 policemen have been deployed while CCTV cameras have been installed," a police official told IANS.

The ground is situated near Sithiyo village from where four suspects involved in the Oct 27, 2013 Patna Gandhi Maidan serial blasts were arrested.

Majority of the schools here will remain closed Thursday. Modi will return to New Delhi at about 1.30 p.m. Thursday.