FM Sitharaman announces industrial nod at Gaya, tourism corridor for Bihar

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced various measures for the state of Bihar in her seventh Budget speech for financial year 2024-25 presented today, July 23.

Among the major measures, Sitharaman announced that the central government has proposed a ₹26,000 crore funding for various road projects in Bihar.

“We will support the development of road connectivity projects- Patna -Purnea expressway, Buxar- Bhagalpur highway, Bodhgaya- Rajgir-Vaishali- Darbhanga and an additional two-lane bridge over river Ganga in Buxar for ₹26,000 crore,” the finance minister said.

She added, “On the Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor, we will support the development of an industrial nod at Gaya in Bihar. It will catalyse the development of the eastern region.”

The government also announced to establish airports, medical colleges and sports infrastructure in Bihar.

Sitharaman also announced that states in the eastern part of the country will be targeted under the scheme ‘Purvodaya’.

“We will formulate plan ‘Purvodaya’ for all-round development of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh,” she said.

The Union government will arrange financial assistance to Bihar through aid from multilateral development agencies, added the finance minister.

In order to promote tourism in Bihar, Sitharaman also announced development of two new temple corridors in the state on the lines of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor in Varanasi.

Measures were also announced to tackle the issue of recurring floods in Bihar. Sitharaman said that the central will allocate financial support to implement flood-control measures in the form of dams and irrigation projects.

For Union Budget 2024-25, Sitharaman said that the government has set nine priority areas -- productivity and resilience in agriculture, employment and skilling, inclusive human resource and development, social justice, manufacturing and services, urban development, energy security, infrastructure, innovation and research and development, and next-generation reforms.