PM inaugurates 16th Combined Commanders’ Conference in Kolkata

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting West Bengal and Bihar on Monday for key defence and development engagements.

In Kolkata, PM Modi will inaugurate and address the 16th Combined Commanders’ Conference-2025, the apex biennial forum where India’s top civilian and military leadership deliberate on national security and strategic planning. Scheduled from 15 to 17 September with the theme “Year of Reforms – Transforming for the Future,” the conference will focus on strengthening India’s defence preparedness and advancing a self-reliant military framework.

PM’s Bihar visit centres on infrastructure, agriculture and connectivity. He will launch the National Makhana Board to drive production, technology adoption and global branding of makhana, a crop for which Bihar provides about 90 per cent of India’s output. He will inaugurate the Interim Terminal Building at the New Civil Enclave of Purnea Airport, enhancing air travel capacity for the region and supporting economic growth.

Among the flagship projects, PM Modi will lay the foundation of a 3×800 MW ultra-supercritical thermal power plant at Pirpainti in Bhagalpur, a Rs 25,000 crore private investment aimed at strengthening Bihar’s energy security. He will also initiate Phase 1 of the Kosi-Mechi Intra-State River Link Project, worth over Rs 2,680 crore, which will expand irrigation, control floods and boost agricultural resilience in northeastern Bihar.

Rail connectivity is another major focus. Modi will launch the Bikramshila–Katareah rail line across the Ganga (Rs 2,170 crore), inaugurate the Araria–Galgalia line (Rs 4,410 crore), and flag off new Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat Express trains, improving links across Araria, Purnea, Saharsa and neighbouring districts.

Additional initiatives include inaugurating a state-of-the-art Sex-Sorted Semen Facility at Purnea under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission to raise dairy productivity, handing over homes to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in both rural and urban areas, and distributing Community Investment Funds of about Rs 500 crore to Cluster Level Federations under DAY-NRLM.

Together, these projects, worth nearly Rs 36,000 crore, underscore Modi’s agenda of strengthening national defence, boosting Bihar’s economy, improving connectivity and supporting farmers and rural communities.

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