Inherited 1.21 lakh kms of potholed highways, will roll out new projects, says Yogi Adityanath

Claiming to have inherited a legacy of 1.21 lakh Kms of potholed highways, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said the state for the first time will see a large number of projects for economically backward areas like Bundelkhand.

Addressing the media here jointly with Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari, after a review meeting of projects in the state, Adityanath said a large number of projects that were languishing will roll out now and every village in UP will witness “pakka road connectivity”.

“I feel sad to tell that when we took oath, we got 1.21 lakh km of highways full of potholes...Now, I am happy to say that the desire of people of Uttar Pradesh has been fulfilled and a large number of projects were cleared in one go today,” Aditynath said.

He said that this was the first time that a huge number of projects were cleared and roads will be built at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore from the central road fund.

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“In UP, Eastern UP and Bundelkhand had been subjected to economic backwardness. This is for the first time that we have approved a 6-lane Expressway project for Bundelkhand from Tiruwa to Jhansi via Agra Lucknow Expressway. Six lanes will be built till Jhansi and from there it will be four lane via Trikoot to Allahabad. The project has been given in-principle nod and detailed project report will be ready soon,” he said.

Besides, a consensus has been reached to construct a ring road for all major cities in UP including Allahabad, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Bareilly, Kanpur, Muradabad and Meerut, he said.

“Seven important highways have been approved for the state capital Lucknow,” he said, thanking Gadkari for heeding the plight of people in UP “with an open heart”.

“Several projects were pending for years and were not moving. This meeting has resulted in rolling out of these,” he said and added that 73 state highways totalling 6,260 km will be converted into National Highways soon.

Apart from this, 15 state highways will also be converted into National Highways. The CM said he was glad that every parliamentary constituency can see construction of 6-10 big highway projects from central road fund and “each village in UP will be connected with pakka roads”.

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