Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay foundation stones and inaugurate a slew of projects from Deoghar, a site of pilgrims during Shravan month in Jharkhand, on July 12.
According to sources in the state government, road transport and highways ministry will have the maximum projects — eight — having a cost of Rs 5,797 crore whose foundation stone would be laid by Modi, followed by three projects of railway ministry costing Rs 544 crore and one project of petroleum and natural gas ministry. A total of 12 projects costing Rs 6,565 crore will have their foundation stones laid on the occasion.
A total of 13 projects costing Rs 10,270 crore will be inaugurated at the same venue.
“Prime Minister will be laying foundation stones and inaugurating various schemes totalling near Rs 16, 835 crore from Deoghar. The highlight would be the commercial flight airport in Deoghar — the second in Jharkhand after Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi — built at an estimated cost of Rs 401.3 crore. We are geared up for the successful conduct of the inauguration ceremony,” said additional chief secretary of health, Arun Kumar Singh, who is currently the acting chief secretary in place of chief secretary Sukhdev Singh who has gone on leave following the death of his daughter.
Some of the prominent road and highways projects whose foundation stone would be laid by Prime Minister include four-laning of Mirza Chowki-Farakka section of NH-80, four-laning of Hariharganj to Parwa Mode and four-laning of Palma to Gumla section and four-laning of Garhwah bypass.
The long-awaited Ranchi Station re-development project, estimated at Rs 210 crore, will also have its foundation stone laid on the occasion.
Some of the major projects which will be inaugurated by the Prime Minister apart the airport include development of Baba Baidyanath Dham (Rs 39 crore), six-laning of Gorhar to Khairatunda section of NH-2 (Rs 1,790 crore), remaining four-laning work of NH-33 in Ranchi-Mahulia section (Rs 800 crore), widening of Gobindpur-Chas section of NH-32 till Bengal border (Rs 1,144 crore), pipeline laying work (Rs 2,500 crore) and expansion of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Deoghar (Rs 1,103 crore).
The Prime Minister will also address a meeting at Deoghar college ground and perform puja at Babadham Temple.
Meanwhile, Deoghar airport officials informed that initially there will be flights from Deoghar to Calcutta and later there will be flights to Delhi and Patna too.
“The number of flights will increase after allocation of slots from the airport authorities and DGCA,” said the official.
The airport has been constructed to handle Airbus A-320 and A-321 type of aircrafts that can land on a runway, which is 2,500 metres long and has 45-metre width.
“The airport has four parking bases for A-320 and A-321 flights and has six check-in counters, a departure conveyor, and two arrival conveyor belts. X-rays, security equipment, and CCTVs have also been installed inside the terminal. The airport has a peak-hour handling capacity of 200 passengers. It will give a boost to the regional connectivity in the Santhal region,” said the airport director S.K. Dhingra.
The Deoghar airport has installed solar energy and water harvesting systems as sustainability measures.
