PRIME Minister Narendra Modi unveiled projects worth Rs 12,800 crore in Bihar on Wednesday. The PM unveiled the projects at a programme at Bettiah, the district headquarters town of the West Champaran district. Governor Rajendra V Arlekar, Deputy CMs Samat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, and State Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary of the JD(U) were among those present at the programme. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was, however, not present at the programme. The PM inaugurated the 109-km-long Muzaffarpur-Motihari LPG pipeline of Indian Oil, which will not only provide cleaner cooking fuel to the people of Bihar but also to neighbouring Nepal.

 

He also inaugurated Indian Oil’s LPG bottling plant and storage terminal at Motihari. It would also act as a strategic supply point for the export of petroleum products to Nepal, besides the eight districts of north Bihar. The PM laid the foundation stone of the city gas distribution project in East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan and Deoria, and grain-based ethanol projects at HCPCL Biofuels Ltd’s facilities at Sugauli and Lauriya. He also inaugurated the two-laning of the Piprakothi-Motihari-Raxaul section of NH-28A and the Sheohar-Sitamarhi section of NH-104. He laid the foundation stone for a six-lane cable bridge over the Ganga, parallel to Digha-Sonepur rail-cum-road bridge, and the four-laning of the Bakarpur Hat-Manikpur section of NH-19 bypass.

 

Modi called RJD President Lalu Prasad and his family “the biggest offenders of Bihar”, accusing them of ushering in jungle raj in the state during its more than a decade-long rule. Addressing a rally in Bettiah, Modi alleged that the youths of Bihar had been compelled to migrate in large numbers due to the misrule of the RJD-Congress combine. He asserted that it was only after the NDA took charge that the state began to witness improvements. “The family responsible for jungle raj...They are biggest offenders (sabse bade gunahgar) of Bihar. Their misrule imperilled the future of an entire generation. Youths were forced to migrate to other parts of the country, while only one family prospered”, said Modi.