Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a slew of announcements during his Champaran visit which are likely to benefit Bihar in general and Motihari in particular. But most of all, it will make life easy for union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh in the 2019 parliamentary elections, say observers.
Singh has always been accused of doing not enough for his constituents leading to a question mark over his ability to get elected next time. Despite several high-voltage events in Motihari, Singh’s popularity was not picking up, say locals.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday laid the foundation of the Muzaffarpur-Sagauli and Sagauli-Valmikinagar rail sections which are to be built at an estimated cost of Rs 2,401 crore and will cover districts of Muzaffarnagar, East Champaran and West Champaran.
As reported earlier in these columns, Radha Mohan is busy helping farmers double their income but cooperators connected to his constituency in Motihari are not impressed. “Nothing has changed here except some high-voltage co-op events held in the place ”, they complained.
The chief grouse against the Minister had been a lack of infrastructural development in the area after him becoming a union minister in the NDA government. Motihari is a sugarcane belt which boasted scores of co-operative sugar mills in the past. With the apathy of the state govt and gross mismanagement by officials they fell into disuse.
People of the area had high hopes from the BJP govt and especially from Radha Mohan that he would help these sugar mills come to life again but nothing is visible so far on the ground.
The laying down of the foundation stone for the first dairy plant in Motihari recently and these announcements made by the Prime Minister on Tuesday are going to cheer up the people of the area, say observers.
The Prime Minister who was in Motihari to attend an event to mark 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagraha also announced a train between Katihar and Old Delhi, dedicated a loco factory in Madhepura to the nation and laid the foundation for track doubling in two sections in Bihar.
Union Minister has also lined up a state level cooperative conference, quick on the heels of PM’s visit in Motihari. Planned for 3 days, the conference would see an assembly of cooperators from all the districts of the state. Representative from PACS are also invited. About 500 participants are expected to take part in the event, said one of the organizers.