PM Modi to launch multiple development projects in Bihar, West Bengal today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bihar on Friday, where he will lay the foundation stone and inaugurate multiple development projects worth over Rs 13,000 crore, officials said.

During his nearly four-hour tour of Bihar, the PM will undertake whistle-stop visits to Gayaji, Patna and Begusarai districts.

The trip will begin at Gayaji, where he will inaugurate projects including a 660 MW power project situated in Buxar built at a cost of Rs 6,880 crore, and also address a public rally, they said.

He will also inaugurate the 1.86-km-long six-lane Aunta-Simaria Bridge project on Ganga River, constructed at a cost of over Rs 1,870 crore. It will provide direct connectivity between Mokama in Patna and Begusarai.

 

The PM will also inaugurate the four-lane Bakhtiyarpur-Mokama section of NH-31, built at around Rs 1,900 crore, which will ease congestion, reduce travel time, and enhance passenger and freight, the officials said.

He will also inaugurate the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre at Muzaffarpur.

The centre includes advanced Oncology OPD, IPD wards, operation theatres, modern laboratory, blood bank, and a 24-bed ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and HDU (High Dependency Unit).

This facility will provide advanced and affordable cancer care to patients in Bihar and neighbouring states, reducing the need to travel to distant metros for treatment, the officials said.

The PM will also lay 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, they said.

Under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, he will lay the foundation stone of water supply projects at Aurangabad, Bodh Gaya and Jehanabad.

The PM will also flag off two trains -- Amrit Bharat Express between Gaya and Delhi and Buddhist Circuit Train between Vaishali and Koderma.

'Grih Pravesh' (housewarming) ceremony of 12,000 rural beneficiaries under PMAY-Gramin and 4,260 beneficiaries under PMAY-Urban will also take place with the symbolic handing over of keys to a few beneficiaries by the PM, the officials said.

Commenting on PM's visit to Bihar on Friday, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, in a post on X, wrote, "PM Modi ji is coming to Gayaji today to perform the 'pind daan' (last rites) of the political journey of Nitish Kumar and his party."  Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav, in a post on X, wrote, "Today, a shop of lies and rhetoric will be set up in Gayaji! The PM must explain what he has done for Bihar in the last 11 years and what the NDA government did for the state in the last 20 years.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also visit West Bengal on Friday to unveil Rs 5,200 crore worth of infrastructure projects, including three crucial metro stretches, and address a public rally.

The Prime Minister will arrive in Kolkata from Bihar and inaugurate the new Kolkata Metro stretches before addressing a party rally, a senior BJP leader said.

The tour comes amid a simmering row over a constitutional amendment bill pertaining to the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers and ministers after arrest on serious criminal charges.

TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has branded the proposed law as "autocratic", a step "more than a super-Emergency" that will "finish" the independence of the judiciary.

"I am eager to be among @BJP4Bengal Karyakartas at a rally in Kolkata. With each passing day, public anger against the TMC is increasing. West Bengal is eagerly looking towards the BJP with hope because of our development agenda," Narendra Modi posted on X on Thursday.

In another post, the Prime Minister said, "It is always a delight to be among the people of Kolkata, a city whose development we are greatly committed to. Tomorrow's programmes in the city are mainly focussed on connectivity. The metro services, which will be flagged off, include Noapara-Jai Hind Bimanbandar, Sealdah-Esplanade and Beleghata-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay routes. Connectivity to and from the airport as well as the IT hub areas will be enhanced."  The chief minister has decided to skip the inauguration of the three new Kolkata Metro stretches that the Prime Minister will unveil.

"The decision was taken in the backdrop of harassment faced by migrants from West Bengal in several BJP-ruled states," a senior TMC leader said.

Against this backdrop, the BJP expects the Prime Minister to use his West Bengal visit to sharpen the party's counter-narrative -- projecting development and infrastructure growth in contrast to what it calls the TMC's "politics of appeasement and identity mobilisation".

Banerjee and her party have in recent weeks accused BJP-ruled states such as Assam, Odisha, Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat of detaining and profiling Bengali-speaking migrants, alleging that they are being branded "illegal Bangladeshis".

PM Modi will inaugurate a 13.61 km-long metro network in Kolkata, marking the first time in 41 years that the city's metro services will directly connect the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport with the rest of the city.

Kolkata is set for a historic leap in public transport, with these three new metro stretches rolling out, which will drastically slash travel time, including cutting a 50-minute road journey to 11 minutes and the airport commute to just 30 minutes.

In addition, the Prime Minister will lay the foundation stone of a 7.2 km six-lane elevated Kona Expressway project worth over Rs 1,200 crore. The expressway is expected to significantly cut travel time between Howrah, surrounding rural areas and Kolkata, providing a major boost to trade, commerce and tourism.