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NEW DELHI: Prime minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the Bundelkhand Expressway in the Jalaun district of Uttar Pradesh.
The 296 km four-lane expressway has been constructed at a cost of around ₹14,850 crore under the aegis of Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), and can later be expanded up to six lanes as well. It is expected to give a major boost to connectivity and industrial development in the region.
It 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.
Along with improving the connectivity in the region, the Bundelkhand Expressway will also give a major boost to economic development, resulting in the creation of thousands of jobs for the local people, said a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office. Work on the creation of an industrial corridor in Banda and Jalaun districts, next to the expressway, has already been started.
“The distance from Chitrakoot to Delhi has been reduced by 3-4 hours by the Bundelkhand Expressway, but its benefit is much more than that. This expressway will not only give speed to vehicles here, but it will accelerate the industrial progress of entire Bundelkhand," he said.
He said that connectivity projects in Uttar Pradesh are connecting many areas which have been ignored in the past. He noted that the Bundelkhand Expressway passes through seven districts -- Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya and Etawah. Similarly, other expressways are connecting every nook and corner of the state, Modi said.
The prime minister asked the chief minister of the state, Yogi Adityanath, to develop a tourism circuit around the many forts in the region.
Talking of development initiatives, he said that the number of Common Service Centers in Uttar Pradesh increased from 11,000 in 2014 to 1.3 lakh currently. From 12 medical colleges, the state now has 35 medical colleges and work on 14 more is underway, he added.
The prime minister said the larger thinking behind taking a decision and making a policy should be for further accelerating the development of the country.
Modi said that as development reaches small cities, it leads to realisation of social justice. As modern infrastructure reaches “much ignored" eastern India and Bundelkhand, this amounts to social justice, he added.
“Backward districts that were left to fend for themselves are now witnessing development, this too his social justice. Toilets for the poor, connecting villages with roads and tap water too is social justice," he said.