All preparations are in place for the much-awaited inauguration of the 340-km long Purvanchal Expressway in Uttar Pradesh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will ride an Air Force C-130J Super Hercules today for the mega launch of the six-lane expressway which will connect Lucknow with Haydaria village on NH-31 in Ghazipur district. Moreover, some sections of the expressway are marked for emergency landings for the Air Force. If reports are to be believed, the concept for the same derived during World War II in Germany.

Constructed at an estimated cost of about Rs 22,500 crore, the Purvanchal Expressway is going to give a boost to the economic development of eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh.

“Tomorrow is a special day for Uttar Pradesh’s growth trajectory. At 1:30 PM, the Purvanchal Expressway will be inaugurated. This project brings with it multiple benefits for UP’s economic and social progress”, PM Modi had tweeted on Monday.

Purvanchal Expressway: Here Are The Highlights of Pragati Ka Highway

• Touted as the ‘dream project’ of the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government, the expressway can be expanded to eight lanes in the future.
• The Purvanchal expressway is going to give a boost to the economic development of the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh especially the districts of Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau, and Ghazipur.
• Constructed at an estimated cost of about Rs 22500 crore, the Purvanchal expressway will boost tourism at places of historical significance.
• The expressway will reduce the travel time between Lucknow to Ghazipur to 3.5 hours from 6 hours.
• It will have seven major bridges, seven railway overbridges, 114 minor bridges, and 271 underpasses.
• Being an Access Controlled Expressway, it would provide benefits like fuel-saving, time-saving, and Control in Pollution levels, along with a reduction in accidents.
• The areas covered by this Expressway would be a benefit in a Social & Economical way. Agriculture, commerce, tourism, and other industrial development will also get a fillip.
• The design work was done by Egis India Consulting Engineers and Ayesa India.

Details of Purvanchal expressway project

• Starting point: Village Chand Sarai, located at Lucknow-Sultanpur Road (NH-731), district Lucknow.
• Ending Point: Near village Haidaria on National Highway No.-19, before 18 KM of UP-Bihar border, in district Ghazipur. Total length 340.824 KM.
• Total length: The total length of a fully access-controlled 06 lane expressway is 340.824 KM.
• Project Cost Rs. 22,494.66 crore (Including the cost of land).
• Other districts falling on the expressway Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Sultanpur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau, Ghazipur.

BJP, SP Indulge in Credit War

In July 2018, PM Modi had laid the foundation of the Purvanchal Expressway in Azamgarh, however, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav has claimed that the foundation of the ‘Samajwadi’ Purvanchal expressway was laid during his party’s tenure. He had also accused the BJP government of compromising on the quality of the expressway in a bid to cut down the project cost and inaugurate it before the assembly polls to claim the credit.

Reacting sharply to former UP CM and Samajwadi Party chief claims, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a tweet in Hindi said, “The manner in which Akhilesh Yadav is beating the drum of kagazi (on paper only) expressway, his next tweet will be that ‘Ram temple has also been built by the Samajwadi Party government.’ “Take this credit also Akhilesh Ji…when you tell so many lies then one more lie can do”, the party tweeted.

“A picture from the pages of history when the Socialists had laid the foundation stone of the way to the modern future of Purvanchal,” he later tweeted in Hindi and declared the future belongs to his party and “there will be a change in 2022”. He also shared a picture of the foundation laying ceremony of the expressway when he was the chief minister with senior Samajwadi Party leaders on the dais.