Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation three key projects related to the Petroleum sector in Bihar on September 13, 2020, via video conferencing. The projects include Durgapur-Banka section of Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur Pipeline Augmentation Project and two LPG Bottling Plants. They have been commissioned by Indian Oil and HPCL, PSUs under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said the special package announced for Bihar a few years ago focused much on the state’s infrastructure. He said the special package given to Bihar had 10 big projects related to petroleum and gas worth Rs 21 thousand crore. It is the seventh project which is being dedicated to the people of Bihar on September 13, 2020. He also listed the other six projects which had been completed in Bihar earlier.
He expressed happiness that he is inaugurating the Durgapur-Banka section (about 200 km) of an important gas pipeline project of which he laid the foundation about one and a half years ago. He lauded the hard work of the engineers and labourers and active support of the state government for completing this project on time in spite of the challenging terrain.
The PM lauded Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for playing a big role in making Bihar come out of the work culture in which one generation used to start the work and the other generation completed it. He said this new work culture needs to be strengthened and it can take Bihar and East India on the development path, according to a PIB release..
He said there is neither a shortage of power of labour in eastern India, including Bihar, nor this place lacks natural resources and despite this, Bihar and East India remained behind in terms of development for decades and suffered endless delays due to political, economic reasons and other priorities.He said since road connectivity, rail connectivity, air connectivity, internet connectivity were not a priority earlier, gas based industry and petro-connectivity could not be imagined in Bihar. He said development of gas based industries was a major challenge in Bihar due to it being a landlocked state and thus lacking resources related to petroleum and gas which are otherwise available in the states adjacent to the sea.
The Prime Minister said Gas-based industry and petro-connectivity have a direct impact on people’s lives, on their standard of living and also create millions of new employment opportunities.
He said the effort to connect eastern India with Paradip on the eastern seaboard and Kandla on the western seaboard began under Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Yojana and seven states will be connected through this pipeline, which is about 3,000 km long, of which Bihar also has a prominent role. The line from Paradip – Haldia will now be further extended to Patna, Muzaffarpur and the pipeline coming from Kandla which has reached Gorakhpur will also be connected to it. He said when the entire project is ready, it will become one of the longest pipeline projects in the world.
The Prime Minister said due to these gas pipelines, big bottling plants are being installed in Bihar of which two new Bottling Plants have been launched today in Banka and Champaran. Both these plants have a capacity to fill more than 125 million cylinders every year. He said the fertiliser factory of Barauni, which was closed in the past, will also start working soon after the construction of this gas pipeline. He said today eight crore poor families of the country have gas connections because of the Ujjwala scheme.
The Prime Minister said there was a time when LPG gas connections in Bihar were a sign of affluent people. But now this has changed and due to Ujjwala scheme about 1.25 crore poor families of in the state have been given free gas connection. The Prime Minister said in the last 15 years, Bihar has also shown that with a right government, right decisions and a clear policy, development happens and reaches every one.
The Prime Minister said today big centers of education are opening in Bihar. Now the number of agricultural colleges, medical colleges, engineering colleges is increasing.He lauded the efforts of the Chief Minister of Bihar in tripling the number of polytechnic institutions and opening of two large universities, one IIT, one IIM, one NIFT and one National Law Institute in Bihar.
The Prime Minister said Start up India, Mudra Yojana and many such schemes have provided the necessary amount of self-employment to the youth of Bihar. He said today the availability of electricity in cities and villages of Bihar is more than ever. He said migrant labourers have returned back and new employment opportunities have also been created. Even during such a huge global epidemic, the country has not stopped especially Bihar has not stopped.