Lko-Agra expressway put on fast track

The Luckow-Agra access-control expressway project is gathering momentum. Chief secretary Alok Ranjan, who had reviewed its progress only a day before, on Thursday directed the district magistrates to procure the required land from the owners/farmers for the project through negotiations and mutual consent.

He said a sum of Rs 500 crore was being released for this purpose. “The process for the selection of construction agency for the project should be expedited and work on expressway should start at the earliest,” the CS told the officials. DMs of the 10 districts through which the expressway would pass were asked to conduct public hearings, a necessary pre-requisite, to facilitate and pave for obtaining the environment clearance for the green-field project.

The access-control expressway would not only reduce travel time between the two cities but also give overall boost to trade and production to cities in western UP, particularly Mainpuri and Etawah, the CS pointed out. Other cities that stand to benefit from the proposed expressway include Firozabad, Auraiya, Kannauj and Kanpur etc.

Chief executive officer of Uttar Ptadesh Expressway Development Authority (UPEDA) Navneet Sehgal said, “the project would encourage

SO FAR 215 OWNERS HAD EXECUTED SALE DEEDS OF THEIR LAND THROUGH NEGOTIATIONS AND MUTUALLY AGREEABLE TERMS AND CONDITIONS

creation of a parallel industrial corridor and provide opportunity for setting up industrial, medical and educational insti- tutes along the route.”

“Of the total 232 villages in the 10 districts that fall along the expressway route, we have managed to obtain the consent of residents of 141 villages,” he said.

He said so far 215 owners had executed sale deeds of their land through negotiations and mutually agreeable terms and conditions. Talks, he said, were on with other villagers also, who, he said, too were willing to sell their land.