E-Paper
Akhilesh Yadav tweets video of UP expressway to target BJP: ‘New ruins of…’
The Bundelkhand expressway merges with the Agra-Lucknow expressway.
The newly-inaugurated Bundelkhand expressway in Uttar Pradesh is now on the radar of the opposition with visuals going viral on social media that are said to show the damage to the ₹14,850 crore project amid heavy rain. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the expressway last week.
Sharing a video, former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav tweeted in Hindi: “These are the new ruins of the BJP’s new development initiative. The cracks in the Bundelkhand expressway are actually those of the BJP’s corruption. Is this how development would be defined after pushing people into politics of hatred and taking money even to buy wheat? The caravan stopped. They continued to rupture the governments.”
Akhilesh Yadav has been sharing visuals of the UP highway on his Twitter account. Earlier, he had written in a tweet: “This is a sample of the quality of BJP's half-hearted development… On the other hand, the Bundelkhand Expressway was inaugurated by the big people that within a week, huge pits of corruption came out on it. It is good that the runway was not built on it.”
Not just Akhilesh Yadvav, AAP’s Sanjay Singh also targeted the BJP governments in UP and at the centre. "Brothers and sisters, when the 'revri' of the road construction contract is distributed after consuming the commission, then the road becomes a pothole instead of a pothole in the road. Within five days, the expressway has already started sinking deep,” he tweeted on Thursday.
The ‘revri’ comment was in reference to a remark by PM Modi as he appealed to the youth to steer clear of the freebie culture. 'Revri' is a popular cheap sweet in north India. The AAP has been promising free electricity among other facilities ever since it began expanding its national footprint after Delhi win and PM Modi's comment was seen as a dig on the party.
Among others who raised questions on the quality of the project was BJP MP Varun Gandhi. "If the expressway was built at a cost of ₹15 thousand crores, and it could not withstand even 5 days of rain, then serious questions can be raised on the quality of the project. The head of this project, the concerned engineer and the responsible companies will have to be summoned immediately and strict action should be taken against them,” he said in a tweet on Thursday.
The 296 km, four-lane expressway extends from NH-35 at Gonda village near Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot district to near Kudrail village in Etawah district, where it merges with the Agra-Lucknow expressway, according to a government statement. The project, it said, aims to give a major boost to economic development, resulting in the creation of thousands of jobs for the local people.
