New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today dedicated to the nation three key projects related to the Petroleum sector in Bihar via video conferencing. The projects include the Durgapur-Banka section of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur Pipeline Augmentation Project and two LPG Bottling Plants.
The projects have been commissioned by IndianOil and HPCL, PSUs under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
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 for Bihar had 10 big projects related to petroleum and gas worth Rs 21 thousand crore.
Among them, it is the seventh project which is being dedicated to the people of Bihar today, PMO said. The PM also listed the other six projects which had been completed in Bihar earlier.
The PM inaugurated the Durgapur-Banka section (about 200 km) of an important gas pipeline project for which he laid the foundation stone about one and a half years ago.
He said there is neither a shortage of power of labour in eastern India, including Bihar, nor this place lacked 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. “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 PM said.
Modi said that 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 today, when CNG & PNG are reaching many cities in Bihar and Eastern India, people here should get these facilities easily.
He said the Bhagiratha effort to connect eastern India with Paradip on the eastern seaboard and Kandla on the western seaboard began under the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Yojana and seven states will be connected through this pipeline, which is about 3000 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, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
These plants will meet the LPG requirements of Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Sahibganj, Pakur districts and some areas of Uttar Pradesh in Jharkhand. The PM said that Bihar is creating thousands of new jobs from the laying of this gas pipeline to the new industries based on the energy from the pipeline.
The PM further said the fertilizer 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. “This has changed the lives of the poor during the period of corona as it was necessary for them to stay at home and they need not go out to collect wood or other fuel,” he added.
-ARK
