In the state cabinet meeting at Prayagraj’s Kumbh today, Cheif Minister, Yogi Adityanath approved the construction of a 600km long, four-lane greenfield expressway, extendable up to six-lanes, linking the western part of the state to the east which will be built at a cost of Rs 36,000 crore.
The news Agency, ANI quoted the CM as saying, “This will be world’s longest expressway, approximately 600 km, it will take 6,556 hectares of land, it will cost approximately Rs 36,000 crore.”
The Ganga Expressway, as it has been named, will connect Meerut, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Budaun, Shahjahanpur, Kannauj, Unnao, Raebareli, Pratapgarh and arrive at Prayagraj.
The meeting was held in the office of the Prayagraj Mela Authority which organises the Kumbh Mela. In the first ever cabinet meeting in the Kumbh, the cabinet also decided to speed up the land acquisition process for the 296km Bundelkhand expressway and also sanctioned Rs 8,864 crore for the project to acquire 3,641 hectares of land.
It was also decided that another road, the Gorakhpur link of Purvanchal Expressway will be constructed at a cost of Rs 5,555 crore.
The beautification drive of Maharshi Valmiki Ashram and Maharshi Bharadwaj Ashram were also discussed in the meeting.
Along with sanctioning houses for 3791 lepers in the state under CM Awas Yojana and deciding that doctors at Lucknow’s Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute (SGPGI) will now get allowances and other benefits at par with doctors of AIIMS, the CM also welcomed the Union government’s decision to file a plea in Supreme Court to transfer excess land in Ram temple case to the original owners.
Apart from these, Yogi Adityanath further announced that the film ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ which “will instil a feeling of nationalism in the youth and the citizens of the country,” said the CM, would be exempted from state GST.
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The UP cabinet met at Prayagraj on Tuesday morning in the backdrop of ongoing Kumbh Mela. CM Adityanath and other leaders took a holy dip in the Kumbh Mela, the world’s largest pilgrimage, ahead of the cabinet meeting.
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This is the first time Kumbh has been selected to hold the State cabinet meeting, otherwise, from the previous five decades, the UP cabinet has been meeting in Lucknow.