Kolkata, Sep 15 (UNI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the three-day Combined Commanders’ Conference (CCC) at the Eastern Command headquarters of the Indian Army at Vijay Durg, the erstwhile Fort William, in Kolkata.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh and the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force were among the key participants in the high-level meet.

The biennial conference is considered the apex platform for civil and military leadership to deliberate on strategic, institutional, and operational priorities of the armed forces.

This year’s 16th edition of the CCC, themed “Year of Reforms – Transforming for the Future”, is first such gathering after Operation Sindoor, a punitive tri-services campaign aimed at dismantling terror infrastructure across the Line of Control and inside Pakistan.

Officials said the deliberations will focus on reforms, technological modernisation, greater integration of the services, and multi-domain operational preparedness.

The Prime Minister arrived in Kolkata yesterday evening from Assam and spent the night at Raj Bhavan. He reached Vijay Durg around 9.30 am to open the conference.

This was his fourth visit to West Bengal in the past five months and the second within a month.

Modi, who came to Kolkata late yesterday night is scheduled to travel to Bihar later in the day, where he will unveil and inaugurate a slew of development projects worth nearly Rs 36,000 crore.

His engagements in Bihar will cover infrastructure, agriculture and connectivity, with the launch of the National Makhana Board in Purnea to promote production, technology adoption and global branding of the crop for which the state accounts for nearly 90 per cent of India’s output.

The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Interim Terminal Building at the New Civil Enclave of Purnea Airport, which will enhance regional air connectivity and support economic growth.

Among the flagship projects, he will lay the foundation stone of a 3×800 MW ultra-supercritical thermal power plant at Pirpainti in Bhagalpur, a private investment of about Rs 25,000 crore to strengthen Bihar’s energy security.

He will also launch the first phase of the Kosi–Mechi Intra-State River Link Project, valued at over Rs 2,680 crore, aimed at expanding irrigation, controlling floods, and boosting agricultural resilience in northeastern Bihar.

Rail connectivity will also get a major boost with the launch of the Bikramshila–Katareah rail line across the Ganga, costing Rs 2,170 crore, and the inauguration of the Araria–Galgalia line worth Rs 4,410 crore.

Modi will also flag off new Vande Bharat and Amrit Bharat Express trains to improve connectivity across Araria, Purnea, Saharsa and neighbouring districts.

In addition, the Prime Minister will inaugurate a state-of-the-art Sex-Sorted Semen Facility in Purnea under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission to enhance dairy productivity, hand over homes to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana in both rural and urban areas, and distribute Community Investment Funds of about Rs 500 crore to Cluster Level Federations under DAY-NRLM.

The twin engagements in Kolkata and Bihar underscore the government’s agenda of strengthening national defence while driving regional growth, connectivity and rural development.

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