Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive here on Saturday to take part in Patna University’s centenary function. He will fly to Mokama to lay the foundation for four sewerage projects under the Namami Gange programme and four national highway projects worth over Rs 3,700 crore.
The four national highway projects for which foundation stones will be laid include four-laning of the Aunta-Simariya section of NH-31 and construction of a six-lane bridge over the Ganga, four-laning of Bakhtiyarpur-Mokama section of NH-31, two-lane construction of Maheshkhunt-Saharsa-Purnia section of NH- 107 and two-lane construction of Biharsharif-Barbigha-Mokama section of NH-82.
The sewage treatment plants (STPs) and related works in Patna will cost Rs 738.04 crore.
This will be the PM’s first official tour of the state since the BJP became a part of the ruling coalition in Bihar in July. In August, Modi, along with CM Nitish Kumar, had made an aerial survey of the flood-hit districts of the state.
Few of these projects are parts of the PM’s special package of Rs 1.25 lakh crore he had announced for Bihar before the 2015 assembly election.
While BJP state unit chief Nityanand Rai described the PM’s visit as a ‘Diwali gift’ to the people of Bihar, he ruled out any talk of granting special status to the state. JD(U)’s secretary-general K C Tyagi told TOI that expectations were very high. “We expect more funds for flood relief work, infrastructure development and tax concessions to meet the demand for special category status to Bihar,” Tyagi said.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad will not attend the PU event. “Laluji was made to sit on the ground in the audience at the Prakashotsava function at Gandhi Maidan on January 5. We will not face such embarrassment again,” Lalu’s elder son, Tej Pratap, said.
PU sources said the PM would share the dais at Patna Science College with governor Satya Pal Malik, the CM, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, VC Rash Bihari Singh and Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Upendra Kushwaha.
The Patna sewerage projects include a sewage treatment plant (STP) of 43 million litres per day (MLD) with a network of 179.74km at Beur and two more STPs at Karmalichak (37MLD) and Saidpur (60MLD). The STP at Saidpur will have an adjoining sewer network of 55.10km. Sources said the projects would create additional sewage treatment capacity of 120 MLD and upgrade the existing STP at Beur of 20 MLD.
These projects are part of the Modi government’s ‘Namami Gange’ mission. During his visit here in March, the Union water resources minister had awarded contracts worth Rs 1,050 crore to different private firms to develop sewage treatment infrastructure in Patna.
“Sewerage projects worth Rs 3,600 crore are proposed for Patna, out of which projects with an expected outlay of Rs 738.04 crore will be launched by the PM on Saturday. After completion of all projects, the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) area will have 100% sewage treatment coverage,” PMC commissioner Abhishek Singh told TOI on Friday, adding that no sewage water would drain into the Ganga as the treated water would be used for irrigation purposes.
While the projects will be executed by the Bihar Urban Infrastructure Development Corporation (BUIDCo), the construction works will be monitored by the National Mission for Clean Ganga, which is implementing the ‘Namami Gange’ programme. The projects are proposed to be completed over the next two to three years and handed over to PMC.
Spread over an area of more than 100 square kilometres, Patna is divided into six sewerage zones — Digha, Beur, Saidpur, Kankarbagh, Pahari and Karmali Chak.
