PM Modi launches projects worth ₹13K cr in Bihar, ₹1,200 crore in Bengal

Prime Minister Modi launches key infrastructure projects in Bihar and West Bengal, including the Kona Expressway and new metro routes in Kolkata, while addressing political and security concerns

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday afternoon launched several development projects worth over ₹13,000 crore from Bihar's Gayaji and Begusarai districts. Later in the day, the PM laid the foundation stone of the six-lane Kona Expressway project, worth over ₹1,200 crore, besides inaugurating three new Metro routes in Kolkata.

 

The PM was on a day-long visit to Bihar and West Bengal. Bihar is slated for Assembly polls by November while Bengal will have its Assembly elections by April-May, 2026.

 

Addressing a public rally in Gayaji, the PM charged the INDIA bloc with opposing moves aimed at rooting out corruption in higher echelons of power and steps taken to tackle "threat" posed to the nation's demography from "infiltrators".

 

 

The PM alluded to the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025, introduced by his government earlier this week, and the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, currently being carried out in Bihar by the Election Commission, at a rally in Gayaji.

 

“We have seen a regrettable situation in which people in seats of power have been running governments from jail, signing files from behind bars, tearing to shreds constitutional propriety,” Modi said. Proudly claiming that there was "no taint of corruption" on his 11-year-old government, the PM drew a contrast with the previous Congress regimes, which saw many scams coming to the fore, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the corruption of which, while in power in Bihar, "is known even to the man on the street".

 

Addressing a public meeting in Kolkata later in the day, the PM said that the biggest challenge to Bengal's development is that most central funds are looted, spent on Trinamool Congress cadres. He said Bengal’s demography is changing because of infiltration, and the Trinamool has to be removed from power to ensure infiltrators leave the state. Modi said his government has strengthened the Bengali language by granting it classical language status.

 

In Bihar, the PM inaugurated the 600 megawatt (Mw) Buxar Thermal Power Plant, worth around ₹6,880 crore, and the 1.86-km-long Aunta-Simaria Bridge, constructed at a cost of over ₹1,870 crore, on the Ganga River, connecting Mokama in Patna district with Begusarai.

 

After the inauguration of the Aunta-Simaria Bridge, the PM stood on it and waved at crowds, holding the hand of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Janata Dal (United), and other smaller parties, is heading into the elections for the 243-member Assembly, with JD(U) Chief Nitish Kumar as its chief ministerial face.

 

In Bihar, the PM also flagged off two trains — Amrit Bharat Express between Gayaji and Delhi, and Buddhist Circuit train between Vaishali and Koderma. The latter will give a boost to tourism and pilgrimage across key Buddhist sites in the region. The PM also inaugurated the Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre at Muzaffarpur.

 

In Kolkata, the PM flagged off the three new Metro services spanning the Green, Yellow and Orange lines, covering 13.61 km. Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee skipped the inauguration event, with Trinamool leaders citing alleged harassment of migrants from Bengal in BJP-ruled regions as the reason.

 

The Green Line extension between Sealdah and Esplanade (2.45 km) will provide the first seamless Metro link between Howrah and Sealdah, the two busiest railway terminals in the metropolis, officials said. What takes nearly 50 minutes by road through snarled traffic will now be covered in about 11 minutes underground, they said.

 

For air travellers, the Yellow Line stretch from Noapara to Jai Hind Bimanbandar (6.77 km) will, for the first time in 41 years, connect the airport directly with the city's Metro grid, the officials said. Travelling to the airport, which typically takes over an hour by road, is expected to be halved to just 30 minutes, they said.

 

The third corridor, the Orange Line, will further expand the city's East-West connectivity, adding capacity to a network that has been steadily growing in recent years. Modi inaugurated the 4.4-km stretch in the Hemanta Mukhopadhyay-Beleghata section of the Orange Line.

 

After inaugurating the three Metro stretches in Kolkata, the PM took a ride on the brand new 6-km Jai Hind Biman Bandar-Noapara route, boarding the train at Jessore Road station.