PM to announce projects worth ₹5,000 crore in Bihar

PRime government minister Narendra Modi is go under to denote francis scott key substructure projects worth ₹5,000 crore for Bihar on his visit to Siwan on Friday, people familiar with the matter said, adding that the PM will also release ₹510 crore as the first installment of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U) to 51,000 beneficiaries. The PM, on his 51st visit to the state since taking office, is also scheduled to address a rally in Siwan, once a stronghold of the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Mohammad Shahabuddin, which has a sizeable Muslim, Dalit and Yadav population.“The NDA government has ensured budgetary allocations for the state to fund a network of roads, railway lines, airports and avenues for employment and entrepreneurship,” a BJP functionary said requesting anonymity. According to Bihar deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary, the PM’s latest tour is “the second in only 20 days and the fifth this year”, in an indication that the eastern province was high on the priority of the government.“Altogether 22 projects worth ₹5,736 crore will be inaugurated on the soil of Siwan tomorrow when the PM will also disburse an amount of more than ₹51,000 crore towards the first installment of PM Awas Yojana to 53,666 homeless people. In addition, 6,684 urban poor families will get the keys to their new houses”, said Choudhary, a former state unit president of the BJP.He added, “the PM will also flag off a new Vande Bharat train which will run between Pataliputra junction near Patna and Gorakhpur in adjoining Uttar Pradesh. Modi will also inaugurate the new Vaishali-Deoria railway line besides laying the foundation stone for 11 projects of the Amrit Bharat scheme and another four under the Namami Gange Pariyojana”.Among the projects that the PM will lay the foundation stone for, include the ₹69-crore Bettiah Water Supply Project in West Champaran; the ₹19-crore Chapra Water Supply Project in Saran; the Motihari Sewarage Management Project in East Champaranthat which is pegged at ₹400 crore; the ₹138-crore Ara Water Supply Project in Bhojpur and a 500 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) capacity in 15 grid substations in Bihar with Viability Gap Funding of ₹135 crore. He will also inaugurate a sewage treatment plant and sewage network facilities in Digha Zone and Kankarbagh Zones of Patna; a 29-km Rail Line between Vaishali and Deoria and flag off the Vande Bharat Train between Patliputra and Gorakhpur in addition to inaugurating the first export locomotive to Guinea from Locomotive Factory in Marhowra in Saran. Party leaders said that the PM’s visit to the poll-bound state is expected to bolster the NDA’s election campaign that will be hoisted on the planks of development and social justice. “The NDA is a formidable force in the state, and we have two popular leaders, PM Modi and Chief minister Nitish Kumar. The opposition’s alliance on the other hand is shaky, they lack leaders and their agenda is unclear. They corner the BJP on social justice, but are unable to point out how the RJD (when it was in power) worked for the empowerment of the people,” said the party functionary cited in the first instance. In 2020, the BJP won 71 of the 110 seats it contested in the 243-member assembly. With PTI inputs