Buzz in Bihar: A Rs 500-cr bottling unit, Rs 105-cr ethanol plant, ‘more coming’

IT is early days, this is a state known for too many false starts and yet the buzz this time is unmistakable.

A little over 1.6 km from Zero Mile in Begusarai, there’s the hum of new life as workers load cases of soft drinks, packaged water and fruit juice on trucks lining a 53-acre sprawl. About 200 km to the east, a former brick-kiln owner is juggling “at least 200 calls every day”, from farmers, traders, suppliers and job-seekers ready to sign up for the new ethanol plant he is promoting in Purnia.

“This is just the beginning,” says Bihar’s Industry Minister Syed Shahnawaz Hussain.