Bhagalpur: Administrative sanction of Rs 50.17 crore has been accorded for four-lane expansion and strengthening of NH-80 bypass (State Highway-19) from Zero mile to Lohia bridge on Bhagalpur-Hansdiha road, minister of industries and road construction department and Bhagalpur district in charge minister Dilip Kumar Jaiswal said.Jaiswal was addressing the Republic Day function in Bhagalpur on Monday. Referring to development initiatives in the region, he said recent projects include an investment of Rs30,000 crore by the Adani Power Project for the Pirpainti Thermal Power Plant in Pirpainti block, which will generate 2,400 MW of electricity. This, he said, would help Bihar become self-sufficient in power generation in the near future.The minister said other initiatives of the govt include the establishment of Vikramshila Central University at Kahalgaon, construction of a new greenfield airport, and an additional bridge over the Ganga river, being built parallel to the existing Vikramshila Setu.He added that 79% of the Munger-Mirzachowki four-lane project on NH-80, being executed by the NHAI at a cost of around Rs4,000 crore, has been completed. The project covers nearly 100 km in Bhagalpur district and is expected to be completed by April this year.Steps are also underway to establish more employment-generating industrial units in Bhagalpur under the PPP mode, Jaiswal said. He referred to the setting up of 23 industrial units, including rice mills, confectionery and soft drink factories, a bottling plant, and a linen cloth factory in the district, supported by the Bihar State Investment Promotion Board (BSIPB).He further said about 2,200 beneficiaries of the Vishwakarma Yojana in Bhagalpur are earning their livelihoods. Of the nearly 6,000 successfully registered beneficiaries, around 2,100 have received toolkits.Steps have also been initiated to establish industrial parks in Kahalgaon and Bhagalpur, for which land has been earmarked in Kahalgaon and Goradih in the district, the minister said.Jaiswal also announced that the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary (VGDS)—one of India’s major dolphin conservation sites and tourist attractions—will be developed along the entire 60-km stretch of the Ganga from Sultanganj to Kahalgaon.BJP MLA from Bhagalpur Rohit Pandey, Pirpainti MLA Murari Paswan, MLC N K Yadav, and other guests were present on the occasion.Earlier, the Republic Day function was held in the presence of divisional commissioner Avaneesh Kumar Singh, IG (Bhagalpur zone) Vivek Kumar, DM Nawal Kishor Chaudhary, SSP Pramod Kumar Yadav, and officials of the Bhagalpur Municipal Corporation (BMC), among others.
