Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday during an event in Prayagraj transferred Rs 1,000 crore to bank accounts of self-help groups to benefit around 16 lakh women. He also released over Rs 20 crore to more than 1 lakh beneficiaries under the ‘Mukhya Mantri Kanya Sumangala Scheme’, a scheme that provides conditional cash transfer to a girl child at different stages of her life. In addition, he laid the foundation stone of 202 supplementary nutrition manufacturing units in 43 districts.
The project is a continuation of similar development and infrastructure announcements made by the BJP and Prime Minister Modi in recent months in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. Here we take a look at some of the major announcements made by the PM:
Purvanchal Expressway
In November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the 341-km long Purvanchal Expressway at Karwal Kheri in Sultanpur district. The project, one of the biggest completed infrastructure projects by the Uttar Pradesh government, links state capital Lucknow with Ghazipur.
The project, which cost an estimated Rs 22,496 crore, has been billed as the “carrier of development” to the underdeveloped Purvanchal region. The launch came almost 3 years after the PM laid its foundation stone in Azamgarh in July 2018. “When I laid the foundation stone of Purvanchal Expressway three years back, I never thought that I will land here on an aircraft one day,” PM Modi had said during the inauguration. “This is the expressway to the state’s development and will show the way to a new Uttar Pradesh.”
The Prime Minister also said the six-lane expressway will serve as the lifeline of the eastern region and give a big push to the economic development of the region and the state. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath also lauded the project, saying it will prove to be the backbone of Eastern UP.
Kushinagar Airport
In October, PM Modi had inaugurated an international airport in Kushinagar, calling it a tribute to the devotion of Buddhist society across the world.
He also said completion of the project comes as the fulfilment of one of his “commitments” to the region as its representative in Lok Sabha. Modi said the airport, built at an estimated cost of Rs 260 crore, will boost the economy of the region. On the day of the inauguration, a Sri Lankan Airlines flight carrying several Buddhist monks and dignitaries from the island nation touched down at the airport. The monks brought with them relics from Waskaduwa Sri Subuddhi Rajvihaa Temple in Sri Lanka. They were accompanied by Sri Lankan minister Namal Rajapaksha, who is also the son of the Lankan Prime Minister.
On the flight from Lanka, Modi had said the Kushinagar airport project will connect the region associated with different phases of Lord Buddha’s life such as Kushinagar, Sarnath, Bodh Gaya and Kapilvastu to the rest of the world.
Jewar Airport
PM Modi also laid the foundation stone of the Noida International Airport (NIA) in Jewar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, on November 25. The move made Uttar Pradesh as the only state in India to have five international airports.
Located at a distance of about 72 km from the IGI airport in New Delhi, the new airport will be India’s largest after its completion, according to officials. The first phase of the development of the airport is being done at a cost of over Rs 10,050 crore. The first phase of the airport is scheduled to be completed by 2024 and will have the capacity to serve around 1.2 crore passengers a year. The airport will expand to serve 70 million passengers by the end of phase 4, depending on passenger growth and traffic. Once constructed, the airport is likely to help decongest the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
Projects in Mahoba, Jhansi
On November 19, Prime Minister Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of several projects in Mahoba and Jhansi districts of Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region. Targeting previous governments, both at the Centre and the state, the Prime Minister at the occasion said that the “pariwarwadi” (dynasties) kept farmers in deprivation, whereas his government worked for their benefit. He said, “They never got tired of looting Uttar Pradesh, while we never get tired of working.”
Later in the day, Modi also visited Jhansi to lay the foundation stone of a Bharat Dynamics plant and paid tribute to Rani Laxmi Bai and other icons of the 1857 War of Independence. The Prime Minister, who was also registered as the first member of NCC Alumni Association, also launched NCC Alumni Association and attended the ‘Rashtra Raksha Samarpan Parv’ in Jhansi.
Mega projects in Gorakhpur
Earlier this month, PM Modi inaugurated three mega projects, including an AIIMS and the fertiliser plant, in Gorakhpur- the home turf of CM Yogi Adityanath. According to PTI, the three big-ticket projects cost over Rs 9,600 crore.
He also inaugurated a Regional Medical Research Centre of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
During the inaugration, Prime Minister lauded the UP government saying the amount of sugarcane dues paid by the Yogi Adityanath government in four and a half years was more than the total sum paid by the previous governments in the state in 10 years. He also said his government also took steps to hike urea production by reviving closed fertiliser plants.
Ganga Expressway
Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the ambitious Ganga Expressway project in Shahjahanpur district in Uttar Pradesh. The expressway — one of the longest in the country — will pass through twelve districts to connect western and eastern Uttar Pradesh.
The 594-kilometre expressway will span across the districts of Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj. It will start from Bijauli village in Meerut and end near Prayagraj’s Judapur Dandu. The estimated cost of the greenfield expressway is around Rs 36,200 crore.