PM Modi to inaugurate NMDC's steel plant, new rail lines in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh

Raipur, October 3

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation or lay foundation stones of several projects worth Rs 26,000 crore, including the NMDC’s steel plant, at Jagdalpur city in poll-bound Chhattisgarh on Tuesday, where he will also address a public meeting.

Incidentally, the Congress has called for a ‘bandh’ (shutdown) in the region during the PM’s visit alleging the Modi government wants to privatise the steel plant, which is located at Nagarnar village, 22 km from Jagdalpur in Bastar district.

It will be PM Modi’s fourth visit in the last two-and-half months to the Congress-ruled state, where assembly elections are due by this year-end.

“The PM’s programme will be held at 11 am at Lalbag Maidan in Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar district. He will dedicate to the nation the greenfield NMDC Steel Ltd’s steel plant built at a cost of more than Rs 23,800 crore in Nagarnar,” a Press Information Bureau (PIB) release said.

“It will produce high-quality steel and provide employment opportunities to thousands of people in the plant as well as in ancillary and downstream industries,” it added.

The PM will also dedicate a new rail line between Antagarh and Tadoki and a rail line doubling project between Jagdalpur and Dantewada.