PATNA: PM Narendra Modi on Sunday, inaugurated three key petroleum projects worth around 900 crore, in Bihar, while hailing Bihar as the "Powerhouse of the nation". These projects included a LPG bottling plant each in Champaran district and Banka district in Bihar, and the Durgapur-Banka section of the Paradip-Haldia-Durgapur pipeline augmentation project which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister a year ago. While LPG is presently 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.
The two bottling plants envisaged under the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna, are a major boost to the energy sector in the state and is aimed at empowering the vision of "Atmanirbhar Bihar", in view of the rising demand of LPG in the state. The LPG coverage of the state has seen an enourmous rise since 2014, and now it is estimated to be more than 70% and hence the two plants will cater to this rise in the demand. As per estimates, the projects will also provide employment both in direct and in-direct ways to more than 1000 people in the region and hence provide an economic push to the rural regions.
The pipeline at Banka will serve the districts of Bhagalpur, Banka, Jamui, Araria, Kishanganj & Katihar in Bihar, along with the districts of Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Sahibganj, and Pakur in Jharkhand.
While the pipeline at Champaran will serve the more rural parts and hence the time taken for LPG to reach the rural areas will also be significantly reduced.
"On the sidelines of the inauguration, PM Modi also praised his alliance partner and Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar. I had the opportunity of flagging off the work on extension of the gas pipeline a year-and-half ago. I am delighted to see its completion. The country and Bihar have come out of of an era when a project was announced and a generation had to wait for its completion. Nitish ji has played an important role in ushering in this change in the state", said PM Modi.