Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated India's longest operational expressway in Uttar Pradesh's Purvanchal.
The 341-kilometre long Purvanchal Expressway, connecting Lucknow with Ghazipur, will overtake the Agra-Lucknow Expressway, which is 302-km long.
Constructed at an estimated cost of about Rs 22,500 crore, the Purvanchal Expressway is likely to boost the economic development of eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh that lagged in infrastructure and industrialisation, especially the districts of Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur, an official statement said.
Also read: Take credit for Ram temple too: BJP's jibe at Akhilesh Yadav after his remarks on Expressway
The Prime Minister had laid the foundation for the ambitious mega project under Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) three years ago on July 14, 2018 in Azamgarh.
Starting from village Chand Sarai on Lucknow-Sultanpur Road (NH-731) in Lucknow, the expressway passes through nine districts before ending at village Haidariya on National Highway No. 19 in Ghazipur, just 18 kilometres from the UP-Bihar border. The 6-lane wide expressway, which can be expanded to 8-lane in future, will have 22 flyovers, seven railway-over-bridges (ROB), seven major bridges, 114 minor bridges, six toll plazas, 45 vehicular-underpasses (VUP), 139 Light VUP, 87 pedestrian underpasses and 525 box culverts.
A 3.2-kilometre airstrip has also been constructed on the expressway in Sultanpur district.
Political row: Advantage over political rivals
The expressway is expected to give BJP an advantage over its political rivals in the region that also comprises the Prime Minister's parliamentary constituency of Varanasi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's constituency, Gorakhpur.
Attacking the Yogi government for allegedly compromising on the quality of Purvanchal Expressway in a bid to cut down the project cost and inaugurate it before the assembly polls to claim credit, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the foundation of the expressway was laid during his party's tenure.
However, the BJP dismissed his claims as "lies". Taking a swipe at the SP chief, BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit said Yadav would next take credit for building the Ram temple at Ayodhya.
(With agency inputs)
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