Lagatar24 Desk
Sultanpur, Nov.16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Purvanchal Expressway at Karwal Kheri in Uttar Pradesh’s Sultanpur district on Tuesday.
“This is the expressway to the state’s growth and will show the way to a new Uttar Pradesh,” PM Modi said during the inauguration. As he arrived in Sultanpur in a C-130 Hercules plane, the PM was greeted by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Governor Anandiben Patel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the 341 km long Purvanchal Expressway, in Sultanpur. pic.twitter.com/q1C0rmGMAa
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) November 16, 2021
When I laid the foundation stone of Purvanchal Expressway 3 years back, I had never thought that I will land here on an aircraft one day: PM Narendra Modi inaugurates Purvanchal Expressway in Sultanpur pic.twitter.com/s4nTdA3ThL
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) November 16, 2021
The unveiling comes nearly three years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi lay the foundation stone in Azamgarh in July of last year.
The Indian Air Force is set to perform an airshow at the event that will be held along a 3.2-km stretch at Karwal Kheri that has been specially designed to enable fighter aircraft to land. 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.
The infrastructural project, which cost an estimated Rs 22,496 crore and was finished by the Yogi Adityanath government, has been dubbed the “carrier of progress” for the undeveloped Purvanchal region.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hailed the Purvanchal Expressway as the backbone of UP’s economy. “Undoubtedly, this expressway will prove helpful in fulfilling the resolve of making the state a $1 trillion economy under the guidance of the Prime Minister,” CM Adityanath tweeted.
There has been a tug of war over the project as the UP Assembly elections approach. SP President Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of attempting to claim credit for the SP government’s achievements ahead of the Assembly elections on Monday, and said that the Yogi Adityanath administration compromised on the expressway’s quality.
“It is hoped that till now the people of Lucknow must have memorized the length of the ‘Samajwadi Purvanchal Expressway’,” Yadav tweeted.
Rejecting Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s allegation of poor quality of work on the Purvanchal Expressway, the Uttar Pradesh unit of the BJP on Tuesday said he is troubled by the fact that the 341-km road is ready without corruption of even Re 1.
In a tweet in Hindi, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh said, “Akhilesh-ji is feeling troubled over the speed of the double engine government in UP. Akhilesh-ji is thinking how corruption of even one rupee has not been committed and the 341-km Purvanchal Expressway is ready. Had he been in power, he would have constructed a two-lane expressway, while the money meant for the rest of the four lanes would have filled his coffers.”
