LUCKNOW: The construction of the Rs 50,000crore, over 651km-long Ganga Expressway from Meerut to Prayagraj connecting UP’s western and eastern regions aims to address the indicators of socio-economic backwardness, increase education and employment, fetch more investment through industrial activity and improve manufacturing and service sectors.
The Ganga e-way is the latest in the series of expressways launched under chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a function in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi on Monday, acknowledged Uttar Pradesh as being “now known as express state of the country.”
Having already done the financial and technical viability of the project, the UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) has conducted a special study on the socio-economic impact of the project in the 12 districts it is passing through and has concluded that barring Meerut, which is relatively well off due to its proximity to the NCR, most of the other districts suffer from illiteracy, poor employment, exploitation, agrarian stress and limited industrial activity.
“The literacy rate in all the 12 districts is lower than the national average of 74.04%. Seven out of 12 districts have literacy level lower than the state average of 67.88%. Here, better connectivity through this new Ganga Expressway would help in the education sector and thus social well-being also”, said the chief executive officer of the UPEIDA, Awaneesh Awasthi.
The analysis points out that the working population is lower than the national average in these 12 districts. In seven out of 12 districts it is lower by more than 5% of the national average. The area is to be supported by more employment opportunity and the project is targeted to improve the level of employment in the region.
Focusing on the working population of the region, the UPEIDA’s impact analysis on the Ganga Expressway also highlights that the 12 districts having a high concentration (up to 45-75%) of farm labour, combined with poor employment opportunity, indicates low level of industrial and service sector activity. Significant contribution of these sectors is paramount to higher growth. That the performance of Meerut is better than its neighbouring district is partly on account of stronger transport network and the project will help attract investment in industrial units in the area.
Also, the 12 districts have a huge presence of MSMEs, while large and medium industrial units are sparse and good road connectivity is aimed at improving the supply chain and thus influencing the investment decisions.
“Apart from this, the Ganga Expressway will heavily change the agriculture activities along the Ganga basin and banks as it would not only provide connectivity to national and international markets through containers and hence better prices for products, but also save huge wastage of perishables”, claimed Awasthi, adding, “the project shall provide the right backbone to expand industrialisation of the region”.
Awasthi said that the road will help uplift the backward areas of the region and open gates for equitable growth of all. The other social benefits of the projects include improvement in administration and a better law and order situation, apart from enhanced health and education infrastructure, agriculture, industry, trade and mining and above all, quick appreciation in value of the land adjacent to the proposed road which would benefit thousands of farmers.