Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay foundation stone of various key projects worth Rs 70,000 crore in the next 15 days. (File Photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate and lay foundation stone of various key projects worth Rs 70,000 crore in the next 15 days. He will begin his tour on Saturday with the laying of a foundation stone of the Purvanchal Expressway project in Azamgarh. Modi will then go to Mirzapur on the same day where he will dedicate to people the Bansagar irrigation canal project aimed at benefiting the farmers.
The work on the project, which affects not only Uttar Pradesh but also Madhya Pradesh, was started in 1997. He will also inaugurate a bridge across the Ganga in Chunar on the same day. The project is significant as it would reduce the distance between Mirzapur and Varanasi, the Parliamentary constituency of the Prime Minister by about 15 km. Besides, he would also lay the foundation stone of a medical college in Mirzapur. The 500-bed hospital will come up along the national highway on about 20 acres.
He will then head to Varanasi on Saturday where he will lay the foundation stone and inaugurate projects worth about Rs 1,000 crore. Some of the projects include Panchkosi Parikrama Marg worth Rs 97 crore, revival of 26 ghats worth Rs 10 crore, widening and beautification of link road between Bhikhipur crossing and Amra crossing worth Rs 29 crore, construction of “Kanha Upvan” under Smart City project worth Rs 10 crore and many more.
The Prime Minister is then supposed to visit Shahjahanpur on July 21. There he is scheduled to address a farmers’ rally. After visiting Azamgarh, Mirzapur and Varanasi, Modi is scheduled to lay foundation stone of various projects worth Rs 55,000 crore in Lucknow.
“We are ready to start work on the projects soon after the foundation stone laying ceremony is over,” said Avaneesh Awasthi, principal secretary ( Information). The event would take place at Indira Gandhi Pratisthan, where the investors’ summit was held in February. Union Ministers Suresh Prabhu, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad are supposed to be present at the event. When asked if the repeated visits of Prime Minister to the state is a sign that the BJP is feeling the heat ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Mahendra Nath Pandey, BJP state president, told The Indian Express, “Enthusiasm among public for Modi is still the same as in 2014. In fact, BJP’s development works in UP are troubling the Opposition parties.”