PM Modi lays stone of six-lane 594-km Ganga Expressway

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 18

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today laid the foundation stone of Ganga Expressway in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The 594-km six-laned expressway is the latest infrastructure project launched by the PM in the poll-bound state.

Purvanchal Expressway, Saryu Nahar National Project, fertiliser factory, AIIMS at Gorakhpur, nine medical colleges at Siddharthnagar and the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor in Varanasi are among some of the major projects rolled out by Modi during the past 30 days in UP where the Assembly elections are due in February 2022.

The Ganga Expressway has been built at a cost of over Rs 36,200 crore. Starting near Bijauli village in Meerut, the expressway will extend till near Judapur Dandu village in Prayagraj. It passes through Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Budaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj.

Upon completion of work, it will become the longest expressway of Uttar Pradesh, connecting the western and eastern regions of the state. A 3.5-km-long airstrip for assisting emergency take-off and landing of Air Force planes will also be constructed on the expressway in Shahjahanpur. An industrial corridor is also proposed to be built along the expressway.

Addressing a massive gathering that had assembled at the venue, Modi said there were certain political parties who had problems with the country’s heritage as well as development.

“These people have a problem with the construction of a grand structure of Baba Vishwanath in Kashi. These people have a problem with the construction of a grand temple of Lord Ram in Ayodhya. These people have a problem with the cleanliness campaign of Ganga ji. It is these people who question the Army’s action against perpetrators of terror. These are the people who put the ‘Made in India’ Covid-19 vaccine made by Indian scientists in the dock,” Modi said.

Chief Minister of UP Yogi Adityanath and Union Minister BL Varma were also present at the event. “UP plus Yogi bahut hai upyogi (UP plus Yogi have great utility),” PM said while addressing a rally after laying the stone of the expressway.

Yogi ‘un-upyogi’ for UP: Akhilesh

SP leader Akhilesh Yadav said the current government in the state was “anupyogi” (useless). “Daughters of Hathras, farmers of Lakhimpur, traders of Gorakhpur, unsafe women, unemployed youths, oppressed Dalits and backward classes are saying the present govt of UP is not ‘upyogi’ but ‘anupyogi’,” he tweeted. “People of UP are asking if someone is ‘up-yogi’ (deputy mystic), then who is ‘mukhya yogi’ (chief mystic),” he added.