With Ganga E-way, BJP set to take UP polls fight to western UP

PM Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of 594-km Ganga E-way project in Shahjahanpur on Saturday

After wooing voters by launching several projects in eastern Uttar Pradesh recently, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) now plans to take the fight for the 2022 assembly election to western region of the state as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of 594-km Ganga Expressway connecting Meerut with Prayagraj in Shahjahanpur on Saturday (December 18).

PM Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of 594-km Ganga E-way project in Shahjahanpur on Saturday (For Representation)

PM Modi has already launched a string of projects in eastern UP including Kushinagar international airport, Purvanchal Expressway, Saryu Nahar National Project, fertiliser factory and AIIMS at Gorakhpur, inauguration of nine medical colleges at Siddharthnagar and inauguration of the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor at Varanasi.

Riding on the Ganga Expressway project, the BJP hopes to counter the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance as well as Rakesh Tikait-led Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) that was leading the farmers’ agitation in the western UP.

The BJP also plans to consolidate its hold made in the 2017 assembly election in western UP making inroads into the support base of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Terming the Ganga expressway the longest expressway in UP, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said along with connecting the western UP with the central UP region, it will give thrust to the economic activities and remove economic imbalance.

“It will be a step towards converting UP into an expressway state. The Purvanchal expressway has been dedicated to the people by the PM, traffic on the Bundelkhand expressway will be opened soon and the work on the Gorakhpur link expressway and Ballia link expressway is continuing on a war footing,” Yogi said.

Built at the cost of ₹36,200 crore, the six-lane Ganga expressway will provide direct high-speed connectivity from National Capital Region (NCR) through western UP to Prayagraj. It will facilitate construction of all-weather high-speed access-controlled expressway in the western UP region, said a state government spokesperson.

The expressway will decrease the travel time from Meerut to Prayagraj to 6.5 hours. The 3.5 km long airstrip that will be constructed at Shahjahanpur on the expressway will assist emergency take-off and landing of fighter aircraft. An industrial corridor will be constructed along with the expressway to give boost to economic activities, the spokesperson added.

The expressway will also give a fillip to multiple sectors, including industrial development, trade, agriculture, dairy, tourism, training and educational institutions and medical institutes as well as other economic activities. It will also provide a big boost to the socio-economic development of the region, the spokesperson said.

The Uttar Pradesh cabinet under chief minister Yogi Adityanath gave its nod to Ganga expressway in the first week of September. The state government purchased 94% of land for the expressway from 8,2750 farmers despite the Covid pandemic, he added.