PM Narendra Modi to launch 9 highway projects worth Rs 14k crore in Bihar

PATNA/BHAGALPUR: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Monday lay foundation for nine highway projects worth Rs 14,258 crore and also launch an ambitious programme to provide optical fibre internet connectivity to 45,945 villages in poll-bound Bihar under the Centre’s Ghar Tak Fibre project. This will be the PM’s fifth consecutive pre-election project launch event in Bihar through videoconferencing.
Bihar will get a major boost in bridge sector too as the PM will inaugurate three mega bridges during the event.As per a statement issued by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) on Saturday, the bridges include a new 14.5km four-lane bridge parallel to existing Mahatma Gandhi Setu in Patna (Rs 2,926 crore), 28km four-lane bridge over the Kosi river on NH-106 (Rs 1,478 crore) and 4km four-lane bridge parallel to existing Vikramashila Setu in Bhagalpur (Rs 1,110 crore).
Some prominent highway projects to be launched by the PM Modi are six-laning of 39km stretch of Patna Ring Road (Kanhauli-Ramnagar), four-laning of 54.53km Ara-Mohania section of NH-30 at a cost of Rs 885 crore and four-laning of 60km Ara-Mohania section of NH-30. The Ara-Mohania four-lane project has been divided in four packages for execution purpose.
The official programme will be held through videoconferencing in which the PM will participate from New Delhi and CM Nitish Kumar from Patna.
Union minister and Patna Sahib MP Ravi Shankar Prasad tweeted on Thursday, “All the villages of Bihar will be connected to optical fibre internet by March nest year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the implementation of this programme on September 21.”
The programme will be implemented jointly by the Union communications and information technology departments.
“The common service centres (CSCs) are providing several digital services to the people of Bihar. At present, there are 28,003 CSCs providing digital facilities in gram panchayats of Bihar,” Prasad further tweeted.
Lauding the initiative, BSNL-Bihar circle chief general manager G C Srivastava said the move would not only bring every village in Bihar on the digital map of the country, but also uplift the socio-economic status of people in rural areas.
“All gram panchayats in Bihar have already been connected with high-speed broadband networks under BharatNet. The next step will be extending the internet connectivity to the villages under gram panchayats. Wi-Fi will also be installed at many public places and people would be able to avail this facility from their homes,” Srivastava added.
He added, “Village people will be able to apply for digital documents such as PAN card and Aadhaar card from cyber cafes or through household broadband connections. They will also be able to use Wi-Fi and hotspot facilities for entertainment and information purposes.”
Meanwhile, Patna Ring Road and bridges parallel to Gandhi setu in Patna and Vikramshila Setu in Bhagalpur are part of the PM’s special package for Bihar, which he had announced prior to 2015 assembly elections. The PIB said under the PM’s package, total number of bridges over the Ganga in state will increase to 17.
Bhagalpur DM Pranav Kumar said a physical foundation-laying event for bridge parallel to Vikramshila Setu will be held near ITI for women at Barari.
M K Pandey, executive engineer (NH wing of state road construction department), said the process for acquiring nearly 19.1 hectares of land for the new bridge has been expedited.