The Delhi-Meerut Expressway is finally ready, awaiting its inauguration. The expressway has decreased travel time between Delhi and Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, which was 3 hours and more while travelling via NH58, to merely 45 minutes. Work on rapid rail is also going on and hopefully, the first phase would be operational by 2023. It would convert into a metro after entering Meerut.
The Delhi-Meerut Expressway and rapid rail would also reduce travelling time from Moradabad, Sambhal, Amroha and other districts to Delhi. Commuters from Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar will also reach Delhi in much less time.
Observers say these and other projects in the western UP region may top the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s development agenda on which it intends to fight the forthcoming assembly elections in the state.
The party had announced that the forthcoming elections in UP would be fought on issues of nationalism and development and projects being carried out in the Meerut region would certainly be on top to woo voters in the western UP region, people familiar with the matter said.
BJP MP from Meerut, Rajendra Agarwal, said that the party had done a lot of developmental work in the area and the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, rapid rail and Metro were flagship projects which would benefit not only Meerut but almost the entire region.
He said that the party would certainly convey the benefits of these developmental activities to people and claimed, “People extended their support to the BJP and we hope they would continue the same after assessing its work.”
{{/usCountry}}He said that the party would certainly convey the benefits of these developmental activities to people and claimed, “People extended their support to the BJP and we hope they would continue the same after assessing its work.”
{{/usCountry}}Agarwal said that the speedy and easy connectivity of west UP districts with the national capital would help in strengthening business and opening new avenues of growth and development in the region.
Opposition leaders, however, are ready to downplay the claims of the BJP. Samajwadi Party district president in Meerut, Rajpal Singh, accused the BJP of projecting previous governments’ projects as their own to mislead people. He said that the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and rapid rail projects were originally Congress’ projects while the Metro Rail project was floated by the Samajwadi Party.
He said the BJP promised airport and ring road to Meerut which were still a distant dream and there were many other projects which were promised but didn’t come into existence.
“They are champions in misleading people and would continue doing it in forthcoming elections but we will expose their lies,” said Singh.
A trader, Amit Sharma, who owns an automobile showroom and has other businesses, said that despite many controversies in BJP’s governance, these development projects would give the party an edge over others because traders and people were demanding speedy connectivity to Delhi for years.
On opposition parties’ allegations that most of the projects were conceptualized and planned during the previous government, Sharma said, “The credit goes to those who deliver”. He, however, said that the ongoing farmers’ movement may dent the BJP in western UP.
Meerut, Saharanpur and Moradabad divisions of western UP have 71 assembly and 14 Lok Sabha seats. During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party won all 14 seats but could not win 6 seats in the Moradabad region in the 2019 elections. In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP won 51 out of 71 constituencies in 14 districts of Meerut, Saharanpur and Moradabad divisions.