Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone for “9 Highway Projects” in Bihar through a video conference on Monday (Sept 21). The length of the road involved in these 9 highway projects is approx 350 km and will cost INR 14,258 crore.
On the same day, he has also launched optical fiber internet services in the state. The ambitious project will connect all the 45,945 villages in Bihar through internet.
PM Modi has recently laid foundations for many other development projects including those related to railways, bridges, infrastructure, sanitation and drinking water etc. in the state.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has said in a statement that the proposed highways will pave the way for the development of the state as they will enhance convenience, connectivity and economic growth in and around the state. The flow of people and goods will also be greatly improved, especially with neighboring states of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand.
Prime Minister had announced a special plan for the significant development of infrastructure in Bihar in the year 2015. The plan included 75 projects valued at Rs 54,700 crore, of which 13 projects have been completed, 38 projects are in progress and others are in the process to be launched.
With the completion of these projects, all rivers in Bihar will have bridges that comply with 21st century standards and all major national highways will be expanded and reinforced as well.
The PMO has given details of the optical fiber internet services programme. The office called it an illustrious project that will cover all 45,945 villages in Bihar and will enable the “digital revolution” to reach the most remote corners of the state. The project is implemented by Common Service Centers (CSC) and the Department of Telecom, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.
The PMO stated that CSC has all 34,821 centers across Bihar. It will use this work force not only to implement the project, but also to run it professionally and to provide fiber-optic Internet services to ordinary citizens in each village.
The project will also require implementing one Wi-Fi and 5 free connections to government agencies such as primary schools and anganwadi centers. This will lead to digital services such as e-education, e-agriculture, telemedicine, tele-law and other social security programs, which can be provided to all citizens of Bihar by clicking the button.