Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday laid the foundation stone of a 14 lane Delhi-Meerut expressway here, calling it a national highway to development.
“This is the national highway of development… It will emerge as a major factor for development of western Uttar Pradesh,” Modi said.
Modi said the people in the villages aspire for good roads, as they know it is the key to development.
“The villagers know if they want development, they first need connectivity through good roads,” he said.
Modi also mentioned the Golden Quadrilateral project of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, and also the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
PM Modi lays foundation stone of 14-lane Delhi-Meerut Expressway. pic.twitter.com/8Neeg4A3U8
— ANI (@ANI_news) December 31, 2015
Delhi to Meerut travel time which is approx 2:30-3 hours will be reduced to 40-45 mins after construction of this expressway-Nitin Gadkari
— ANI (@ANI_news) December 31, 2015
Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari speaking at foundation stone laying ceremony of Delhi-Meerut Expressway. pic.twitter.com/1wYlZEfWhv — ANI (@ANI_news) December 31, 2015
“There is an urgent need for an expressway between Delhi and Meerut because NH-58, the only existing link between the two places is heavily congested with traffic,” said a road transport and highways ministry statement.
“The alignment of Delhi-Meerut Express will start from Nizammudin Bridge from Delhi and will continue on existing NH-24 up to Dasna,” the statement added.
Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Mahesh Sharma will be accompanying the PM. Special guests on the occasion will include Union Minister of state General V K Singh, Sanjiv Baliyan, P Radhakrishnan, Mahesh Giri, Rajinder Aggarwal, Satpal Singh and MLA Vimla Batham, sources said.
District Magistrate N P Singh, SSP Kiran S and senior police and administration officials and BJP leaders scrutinised the rally sites and issued directions to make public aware about parking sites and diversion of traffic during the PM’s visit.
Interestingly Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will not be attending the programme, owing to the so-called “Noida jinx”.
Noida jinx, as per political circles, has in the past caught up with several chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, including Veer Bahadur Singh, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, Kalyan Singh and Mayawati, who lost their chairs soon after visiting Noida.