E-Paper
B’khand to step on progress path as PM opens e-way today
The Bundelkhand expressway will give a fillip to investments in the upcoming UP Defence Corridor project spread from west and central UP to Bundelkhand. The state government has planned to set up an industrial corridor along the expressway in Banda and Jalaun districts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would inspect the Bundelkhand Expressway and also plant a sapling after the inauguration.
Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 296 km -long Bundelkhand Expressway in a programme organized in Jalaun district on Saturday.
The ₹14,849- crore four-lane access-controlled green field expressway would pave the way for the development of the backward region of Bundelkhand, said Uttar Pradesh industrial development minister, Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi on Friday.
The Bundelkhand region will directly be connected with the National Capital Region (NCR) and the national capital Delhi through the Agra- Lucknow expressway and Yamuna expressway. The travel time between Chitrakoot district and Delhi will be reduced to six hours from 10- 12 hours.
The expressway will give a fillip to investments in the upcoming UP Defence Corridor project spread from west and central UP to Bundelkhand. The state government has planned to set up an industrial corridor along the expressway in Banda and Jalaun districts that will give momentum to regional industries like handloom, dairy, fruit, cotton and other products of Bundelkhand region, as per Nandi.
Uttar Pradesh would have an operational network of 1,225 km of expressways after the Prime Minister opened the Bundelkhand Expressway. It would be the sixth expressway in Uttar Pradesh. The five functional expressways included Purvanchal Expressway, Yamuna Expressway, Agra Expressway, Delhi- Meerut Expressway and NOIDA- Greater NOIDA Expressway, he said.
Prime Minister Modi would inspect the Bundelkhand Expressway and also plant a sapling after the inauguration. The state government had planned to plant saplings at a distance of 10 metres on both sides of the expressway, he said.
Chief executive officer (CEO) UP Expressway Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), Awanish Kumar Awasthi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the expressway on February 29, 2020 in a programme organized in Chitrakoot district. The scheduled date of completion of the Bundelkhand expressway was 2023. Despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic the expressway had been completed in 29 months.
The expressway started near Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot district and merged with Agra- Lucknow expressway near Kudrail village in Etawah district. The expressway would pass through Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah districts, he said.
Awasthi said the expressway would give thrust to agriculture, commerce, tourism and industrial sectors in Bundelkhand region. The state government planned to develop an industrial corridor along the expressway to boost investment in the region. The entrepreneurs could set up industrial training institutes, educational institutions and medical institutes near the expressway. It would also give a thrust to handloom industry, food processing, dairy, storage and traditional medium and small-scale industrial units in Bundelkhand region, he said.
The four-lane expressway – expandable up to six lanes, had four railway over bridges, 14 large bridges, 266 small bridges, 18 flyovers, six toll plazas and 7 ramp plazas. To provide access to the villagers settled near the expressway, service lane had been constructed in a staggered form, he said.
