Bihar CM thanks PM for launching Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s ‘dream project’

PATNA: Chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar on Friday thanked PM Narendra Modi for dedicating to people the Kosi Mahasetu, as it was the “dream project” of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and also his own as former railway minister.
“You have fulfilled the dream of former PM Vajpayee. It was he who had laid the foundation for Kosi Mahasetu and also of the road-cum-rail bridge across the river Ganga in Patna and Munger,” the CM said.
Nitish said Vajpayee had laid foundation stones for three bridges in June 2003, besides announcing that Maithili language will be included in the eighth schedule of the Constitution.
He said the Congress-led UPA government, which was in power at the Centre for 10 years, did virtually nothing for completing the Kosi Mahasetu. “Work on the project gained momentum after the NDA came to power at the Centre,” the CM said.
Nitish appreciated the railways for taking up projects that will provide the alternative rail route from Kiul to Gaya. “I thank the PM and the railways for creating an additional network of rail routes. It will also benefit the country as Bihar is in the middle, linking the western and southern India to the eastern and north eastern region,” Nitish said. He also thanked railway minister Piyush Goyal for running special trains that brought around 23 lakh stranded people to the state from different parts of the country during Covid-induced lockdown.
Earlier, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi made a detailed presentation of the various railway projects, both completed and under implementation, in the state. He said the railways had done a big service to the people of the state by running special trains to bring back several lakhs of migrant workers to the state.
The deputy CM said transfer of the land of Patna-Digha railway route to the state government had brought an immense good to the state, as a four-lane road was under construction along it.
Among the Union ministers from the state who also participated in the virtual inaugural function addressed by the PM were Ravi Shankar Prasad and Giriraj Singh. Meanwhile, state BJP president Dr Sanjay Kuamr Jaiswal also thanked the PM for inaugurating the railway projects in the state.