PM Modi to inaugurate Kosi bridge on September 18

PATNA: PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 1.9 km Kosi Mahasetu (mega-bridge) and 12 other railway projects across the state through videoconferencing from New Delhi on Friday, a day after his 70th birthday on Thursday. He will also flag off a train from Supaul railway station on the Saharsa-Asananpur Kupaha section.
The Kosi mega railway bridge constructed for Rs 516 crore is strategically placed and gives quick access to the Indo-Nepal border area close to Saharsa, Supaul and Araria districts by linking them with the Mithilanchal region.Besides, it will facilitate long-distance travel benefits by train for the people up to Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai.
The inauguration of the mega bridge would fulfil the long-cherished dream of the people of the Kosi and Mithilanchal regions after 86 years, as the meter gauge link built between Nirmali and Bhaptiahi (Saraigarh) in 1887 was washed away and destroyed by the floods in 1934.
Among the 12 other projects to be inaugurated by the PM are two new railway lines, five electrification projects, one electric locomotive shed and third line project between Barh and Bakhtiarur.
The two new railway line projects that the PM will inaugurate are Hajipur, Ghoswar and Vaishali section, as well as the Islampur-Nateshar section and the Karmauti-Bakhtiarpur by-pass railway link.
The railway electrification projects include Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi sections, Katihar-New Jalpaiguri, Samastipur-Darbhanga-Jaynagar, Samastipur-Khagaria and Bhagalpur-Shivnarayanpur sections.
In the meantime, the state BJP president Dr Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal said on Wednesday that the party’s rank and file would participate in the week-long celebration of PM Narendra Modi’s 70th birthday till September 20.
Calling PM Modi as “the Vishwakarma of new India,” Jaiswal also said the Kosi mega railway bridge to be inaugurated by him on Friday would help make Bihar ‘atmnirbhar’ and also give a push to the fulfilment of ‘atmnirbhar Bharat’ programme of the Centre.
He said that the PM’s birthday celebration by BJP in the state would be marked by the distribution of 70 each of artificial limbs and spectacles among physically challenged persons in each Mandal unit of the party.
Further, residents of 70 slums or poor habitations would be given fruits to fight Covid-19, while the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) youths would donate blood and also give blood plasma for the needy. Also, 70 saplings would be planted by people of each polling booth, and 70 virtual rallies of the intellectuals would also be held to inform them about the life and philosophy of the PM, the party’s state vice-president and former MLA Rajib Ranjan said.