PM Modi West Bengal visit: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in West Bengal on Friday (December 30) to launch development projects worth over Rs 7,800 crore in the state and flag off the Vande Bharat Express connecting Howrah and New Jalpaiguri.
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said Modi will also chair the second meeting of the National Ganga Council (NGC) in Kolkata. Among the new projects, he will lay the foundation stone and also inaugurate multiple sewerage infrastructure projects worth over Rs 2,550 crore, it said.
PM to inaugurate Joka-Taratala metro corridor in southwestern Kolkata:
He will inaugurate Joka-Taratala stretch of Purple Line of Kolkata Metro, launch multiple railway projects and lay the foundation stone of redevelopment of the New Jalpaiguri railway station.
The prime minister will first flag off West Bengal's first Vande Bharat Express from Howrah to New Jalpaiguri, connecting the state's two most important cities- Kolkata in the south and Siliguri in the north.
He will then virtually inaugurate the much-awaited Joka-Taratala stretch of the Joka-Esplanade metro project (purple line) from the Howrah station, the metro official said.
Trial runs on the 6.5 km stretch are being held since mid-September and it received the mandatory Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) clearance in November. Metro Railway General Manager Arun Arora inspected passenger amenities at different stations of the stretch on December 24.
There are six stations- Joka, Thakurpukur, Sakherbazar, Behala Chowrasta, Behala Bazar and Taratala on the route. The Indian Railways has spent Rs 2,477.25 crore for completing the 6.5 km stretch, the official said.
A National Institute of Water and Sanitation named after BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookerjee will be inaugurated as well, it added.
In yet another step to boost cooperative federalism, the PMO said, Modi will chair the NGC meeting in Kolkata and several Union ministers besides the chief ministers of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal are expected to attend the meeting.
The NGC spearheads the exercise for preventing pollution in Ganga and its tributaries and their rejuvenation.
(With agencies inputs)
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