New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated an LPG pipeline project and bottling plants in the poll-bound Bihar via video-conferencing.
The projects include:
- The 193-km long Durgapur-Banka section of the 679-km long Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur LPG Pipeline Augmentation project, and
- Two LPG bottling plants, built by state-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC).
The pipeline of 14-inch diameter passes through West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.
“The Bhagiratha effort to connect eastern India with Paradip on the eastern seaboard and Kandla on the western seaboard began under the PMUGY. Seven states are being connected to this 3000-km-long pipeline, which includes Kandla section meeting this new section and the Muzaffarpur section, making it the longest in the world,” said PM Modi.
He said that Bihar’s administration has been exemplary in making sure that government schemes reach the common people. “This shows that if the right government is elected, the benefits of schemes can reach the people of a state,” he said.
The PM had laid the foundation stone of the pipeline augmentation project on February 17, 2019.
While LPG is currently being injected into the pipeline at IOC’s Paradip and Haldia refineries, the completion of the whole project would enable the facility to be also available from the Paradip import terminal and Barauni refinery.
“IOC’s LPG bottling plant at Banka will help meet cooking gas demand of Bihar by serving the districts of Bhagalpur, Banka, Jamui, Araria, Kishanganj and Katihar in the state, along with that of Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Sahibganj, and Pakur in Jharkhand,” said Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd’s (HPCL) 1,20,000 tonnes per annum LPG bottling plant at Harsidhi in East Champaran district will cater to the requirement of East Champaran, West Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Siwan, Gopalganj and Sitamarhi districts in Bihar.
“These two plants have the capacity to fill more than 1.25 billion cylinders every year. The PM package given for Bihar had 10 big projects related to petroleum and gas. About Rs 21,000 crore was to be spent on these projects. This is the seventh project in which work has been completed and dedicated to the people of Bihar,” PM Modi added.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar was also present on the occasion.
