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Ground Report | New Delhi: Construction of Purvanchal Expressway; The 341-km Purvanchal Expressway at Karwal Kheri in Sultanpur district, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, is one of the biggest completed infrastructure projects by the Uttar Pradesh government.
Prime Minister Modi today landed at the runway in a C-130 Hercules aircraft for the inauguration. Launched in July 2018, almost 3 years after the Prime Minister laid its foundation stone in Azamgarh.
He said, “For the previous chief ministers, development was limited to where they had their homes. But today, as much as the West is respected, there is a priority for Purvanchal as well. Today Purvanchal Expressway is bridging this gap of UP, connecting UP. Pointing to the incidents of crime and looting in Uttar Pradesh, PM Modi said, "Earlier governments had made UP such that there was no road here, there was a road here."
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"It is also a fact that in a vast state like UP, one city used to stay away from another city. For the people of Purvanchal, even reaching Lucknow was like winning the Mahabharata." "The specialty of Purvanchal Expressway is not only that it will connect 9 districts, but this expressway will also connect Lucknow with those cities where there is immense potential for development."
Since 2016, various expressway projects have been started in the state including Purvanchal Expressway, Gorakhpur Link Expressway, Ganga Expressway and Bundelkhand Expressway.
Construction of Purvanchal Expressway
- The infrastructure project, which is one of the biggest projects completed by the Uttar Pradesh government and has an estimated cost of Rs 22,496 crore, has been billed as a "development driver" of the undeveloped Purvanchal region.
- The expressway starts from Chandsarai village in Lucknow district located on Lucknow-Sultanpur road and ends at Haidaria village on National Highway 31 in Ghazipur district. It is currently a six-lane wide highway and may be expanded to eight lanes in future.
- The 341 km long expressway will reduce the travel time between Lucknow to Buxar in Bihar from seven hours to around four hours.
- Once it is opened to the public, the travel time from Lucknow to Ghazipur will be reduced from 6 hours to 3.5 hours.
- It establishes a direct link between the NCR and eastern Uttar Pradesh almost up to the Bihar border.
- There are 18 flyovers, seven railway over bridges, seven long bridges, 104 minor bridges, 13 interchanges and 271 underpasses on the highway that covers the districts of Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav claims credit for project
The six-lane expressway connecting Lucknow with the districts of eastern UP was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 22,497 crore. It passes through nine districts - Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau, and Ghazipur. All these districts are considered strongholds of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Congress.
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The BJP's pitch for the regions ahead of the UP assembly elections comes as no surprise. Nor was the saffron party leaving any chance to slam the opposition. At the inauguration ceremony, PM Modi pointed out the shortcomings of the SP government, saying that the former governments "punished" the state for their neglect. He said, “As an MP from UP, I have developed relations with the local people. I feel sad to recall that when we came to power in 2014, the previous government did not support our development agenda. did." Attempts to target former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav.
Nor was the opposition going to lay it down. Demanding the credit he and his party deserve, the former UP CM tweeted earlier today, "The ribbon has come from Lucknow and the scissors have come from Delhi to take credit for the work of the Samajwadi Party." (Construction of Purvanchal Expressway)
He has been saying that the expressway project was actually conceived by his government. “The SP government completed the Agra Expressway within 22 months while the BJP government is inaugurating an unfinished Purvanchal Expressway. People are aware of this fact and cannot be misled,” he said.
However, Yogi Adityanath has denied Akhilesh Yadav's claims of laying the foundation stone in December 2016 and said that the foundation stone of the project was laid by the PM in 2018. And he took the credit for completing the project on time despite several hurdles due to the pandemic. “Eastern UP, which was neglected after independence, is now progressing at a fast pace on the path of development. The expressway will form the backbone of the economy of Eastern UP. The state government will develop an industrial corridor to give impetus to industrial and commercial activities at eight places on the expressway. The state government has issued a notification for the development of the industrial corridor,” the UP CM reportedly said.
The SP had also claimed credit for the airport. Akhilesh tweeted, 'Tourism and economic activities will get a boost after the commissioning of 'Kushinagar Airport' started by the SP government. The BJP should take inspiration from the public interest works of the SP government instead of just making a record of inaugurating the projects of the SP government.
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