Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday began a two-day tour of Uttar Pradesh by laying the foundation stone for the Rs 23,000-crore Purvanchal Expressway.
“The expressway will take Uttar Pradesh, especially eastern UP, to greater heights,” the prime minister said in Azamgarh. “All the cities, towns and places on this route will experience a change.” The expressway will connect Delhi with several cities and towns of Uttar Pradesh including Noida in the west and Ghazipur in the east. An official told media the six-lane expressway will be built in three years.
Modi praised the Adityanath-led state government for creating an atmosphere conducive for development, and for controlling crime and corruption. “Now the people of the state know that their money is being used for their well being,” he added.
Azamgarh is the Lok Sabha seat of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. The Samajwadi Party has said the 340-km expressway is the brainchild of their government and that they have been denied credit for it. Party workers had protested at the district collectorate on Thursday over this.
The prime minister is also set to visit his constituency, Varanasi, and inaugurate projects worth Rs 1,000 crore. He will also address a rally in Mirzapur.
