The chief minister is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last week of August. He is now hopeful of a positive response to his request now as his party, the Janata Dal (United), has formed an alliance government with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
On Saturday, the JD(U) will pass a resolution at its national executive meeting in Patna to officially join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. The JD(U) is also hopeful that it will find a Cabinet and a minister of state berth in the Union council of ministers.
JD(U) national spokesperson K C Tyagi said the PM had at a meeting in Delhi last week promised central assistance. “We are hopeful that the people of Bihar would soon get to hear some good news. When campaigning for the Bihar Assembly polls in 2015, the PM had promised Rs 1.25-lakh-crore central assistance for new projects,” Tyagi said.
At a public rally in Ara on August 19, 2015, Modi had announced the package for new projects and Rs 40,000 crore for ongoing projects in Bihar.
The PM had promised Rs 3,094 crore for farmers’ welfare, Rs 1,550 crore for skill development, Rs 1,000 crore for education, Rs 600 crore for health, Rs 16,130 crore for the power sector, Rs 54,713 crore for highways, Rs 13,820 crore for rural roads, Rs 21,476 crore for petroleum and natural gas, Rs 449 crore for the digital Bihar project, Rs 600 crore for tourism, Rs 8,870 crore for railways and Rs 2,700 crore for airports.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet, chaired by the PM, approved Rs 1,662.3 crore over three financial years to complete the remaining work of the North Koel Reservoir project in Jharkhand and Bihar. The project aims to provide irrigation to 111,521 hectares annually in the backward and drought-prone areas of Palamu and Garhwa districts in Jharkhand and Aurangabad and Gaya districts of Bihar.
In a related development, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, a Lok Sabha member from Bihar, on Wednesday met the PM to apprise him of the flood situation in Bihar.
Paswan said the floods were the “worst in almost three decades”. JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, who has disagreed with Kumar’s decision to ally with the BJP, is slated to host a “save composite culture” conference in New Delhi on Thursday. Senior leaders of 15 Opposition parties are likely to attend.
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