Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the poll-bound states of Assam and West Bengal on Monday to launch and lay the foundation stones of several projects. The PMO said he will dedicate to the nation important projects of the oil and gas sector in an event organised at Silapathar in Assam, and also inaugurate and lay the foundation stones of engineering colleges during the event.

Later in the day, he will inaugurate several railway projects at Hooghly in West Bengal. In Assam, the PMO said, Modi will inaugurate the INDMAX unit at Indian Oil’s Bongaigaon refinery, Oil India Limited’s secondary tank farm at Dibrugarh and a gas compressor station at Hebeda village in Tinsukia.

He will also inaugurate the Dhemaji Engineering College and lay the foundation stone for Sualkuchi Engineering College. These projects will usher in an era of energy security and prosperity, and open bright avenues of opportunity for local youth, the PMO said, asserting that they are in line with Modi’s vision of “Purvodaya” to drive eastern India’s socio-economic growth. The INDMAX unit at Bongaigaon leverages the technology developed indigenously to produce a higher LPG and high-octane gasoline yield from heavy feedstocks.

The unit will increase the refinery’s crude processing capacity from 2.35 MMTPA (million metric tonnes per annum) to 2.7 MMTPA. Its commissioning will also significantly enhance LPG production from 50 TMT (thousand metric tonnes) to 257 TMT and motor spirit (Petrol) production from 210 TMT to 533 TMT.

In Bengal, the prime minister will inaugurate the extension of the metro railway from Noapara to Dakshineswar, and flag off the first service on this stretch. The PMO said this 4.1-km extension has been constructed at a cost of Rs 464 crore and is fully funded by the central government.

This extension will ease up access to the two world famous Kali temples at Kalighat and Dakshineswar for lakhs of tourists and devotees, it noted. Modi will also inaugurate a third line between Kalaikunda and Jhargram over a stretch of 30 km of the 132-km-long Kharagpur-Adityapur third line project of south eastern railway, which was sanctioned with an estimated cost of Rs 1,312 crore.

The four stations between Kalaikunda and Jhargram have been redeveloped by constructing four new station buildings, six new foot over bridges and eleven new platforms, along with renovation of the existing infrastructure, the PMO said. This will help ensure seamless movement of passenger and freight trains on Howrah-Mumbai trunk route, it added.