PM Inaugurates Purvanchal Expressway; Attacks Samajwadi Party
Arriving in Air Force’s C-130J Super Hercules at Karwal Kheri in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the 340-km long Purvanchal Expressway. While addressing a public rally, Modi said the new expressway will take UP towards a better future.
“I feel honoured to dedicate this expressway to the people of UP. This expressway is a symbol of UP’s development, growth and strong willpower. This expressway is UP’s pride,” he said.
Prime Minister thanked the farmers, workforce and engineers for their contribution in developing this expressway. Highlighting the need for even development of all regions, Modi said that for all-round development of the country, balanced development is important. “We cannot have some regions moving ahead at a fast pace and some lagging behind for decades.”
Prime Minister Modi further spoke on the benefits of the expressway and said that it will benefit the poor, the middle class, farmers, traders and industries. “Earlier cities and towns were not connected to each other, for the people living in Eastern UP, reaching Lucknow was no less than Mahabharata. It will boost connectivity for people of Awadh, Bihar and will also make Delhi-Bihar journey smooth,” he said.
Attacking the previous Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party government, Modi said earlier the development of the state was limited to areas where the people in power had homes but today both the Western and Eastern regions have been accorded equal priority. On Monday, former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav attacked the BJP government for compromising on the quality of Purvanchal Expressway to cut down the project cost and inaugurate it before the Assembly polls to claim credit.
“In a bid to make it cheap, there has been a compromise on its quality. To take credit ahead of the polls, the BJP is going to inaugurate the half-baked ("aadha-adhura") Purvanchal Expressway. There has been a compromise with the quality with which it should have been built," Yadav told reporters.
Further strengthening his attack on Akhilesh Yadav, Modi said that people in previous government were ashamed to stand with him because of vote bank politics. “However, today after seeing developmental works in UP under Yogi Ji’s leadership, I can say that UP’s fortune has started changing,” he added.
Lauding Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Modi said that the CM is working for the welfare of the people without any discrimination and is taking forward the mantra of Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikaas. He further highlighted various other developmental works in the state in the past seven years ranging from new medical colleges to housing and electricity supply infrastructure.
Yogi Adityanath also described the expressway as the backbone of UP's economy and said that this expressway will prove helpful in fulfilling the resolve of making the state a USD 1 trillion economy under the guidance of the Prime Minister.
The Purvanchal Expressway starts from village Chaudsarai, district Lucknow located on Lucknow-Sultanpur road (NH-731) and ends at village Hydaria located on National Highway No. 31, 18 km east of UP-Bihar border. The expressway is 6-lane wide which can be expanded to 8-lane in future. Constructed at an estimated cost of about Rs 22500 crore, the Purvanchal Expressway is going to give a boost to the economic development of the Eastern part of Uttar Pradesh especially the districts of Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur.
From the airstrip venue, Prime Minister also witnessed an air show by different aircraft.
