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Updated: Feb 17, 2019 23:39 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said he stood with the nation and shared the grief and outrage over the Pulwama attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.

“I salute and pay my tributes to Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur. To the people who have gathered here, I would like to say the fire that is raging in your hearts, is in my heart too,” Modi said, evoking a thunderous response from the crowds in Begusarai in Bihar.

He has earlier said that he had given the armed forces a free hand to punish the masterminds of the attack.

In Begusarai, the PM launched a slew of projects in Bihar, including the Patna metro rail, through video conferencing and promised development of the state and enhancement of lives of the people.

The Patna Metro Rail project will cost about Rs 13,365.77 crore. It comprises two corridors of a total length 31.39 km. The project is expected to be completed in five years from the date of commencement.

The Prime Minister then launched the expansion work of Barauni’s oil refinery which would be increased to 9 million tonnes and other projects estimated to cost Rs 33,000 crore.

Read: CRPF soldier’s elder daughter lights pyre. She is 10

Modi also opened the city’s gas distribution at Patna and the Patna River Front Development’s first phase.

He said the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga Pariyojana would make Bihar a gas-based economy and ensure energy sufficiency to the state and provide employment to youths, besides fuelling industries, vehicular movement without affecting environment.

Listing out the projects, he said “all this is happening because the people had voted for a stable and majority government 4.5 years back.

“NDA government’s vision of development runs on two parallel lines, one being infrastructure development and the other is to uplift those sections of the society who have been struggling to avail even basic amenities for over 70 years now,” Modi said in a dig aimed at Congress governments of the past.

Modi also flagged off a new weekly AC train between Patna and Ranchi and other projects through video conferencing. BJP workers and supporters gathered in hundreds at Begusarai, about 130 km from Patna, since morning to listen to the Prime Minister.

Union Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Giriraj Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi were also present in Begusarai.