OUTER RING ROAD FOUNDATION LAID, TO BE OVER IN 2 YRS
On Rajnath’s request, Gadkari clears nine other infra projects
Union home minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone of the `5214 crore, 94 kilometre long outer ring road project – which union surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari promised would be completed in record two years’ time. The UP government will construct a stretch of 12 kilometres of the outer ring road project. “I want to develop Lucknow as a high quality world class city,” said Rajnath while seeking clearance from Gadkari for nine other infrastructure projects for the state capital which were instantly sanctioned.
Union home minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone of the `5,214 crore, 94-km-long outer ring road project – which union surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari promised would be completed in record two years’ time.
The UP government will construct a stretch of 14 kilometres of the outer ring road project.
“I want to develop Lucknow as a high quality world class city,” said Rajnath while seeking clearance from Gadkari for nine other infrastructure projects for the state capital which were instantly sanctioned.
These include SarojininagarBanthara flyover, Rae Bareli road flyover, Telibagh-PGI flyover, engineering collegeIIM road flyover, TedhipuliaIndiranagar flyover and the one from Koneshwar crossing till Dubagga.
Besides this, on Rajnath’s demand, Gadkari gave his inprinciple approval to an ‘elevated long road’ project from Lekhraj market till Polytechnic crossing, one from IT College till Daliganj and a ‘long road corridor’ from Victoria Street. Lucknow (east) MLA Gopal Tandon, who was also present on the occasion, too had been pushing for easing the traffic congestion in and around the polytechnic area.
Gadkari said he would sanction funds from Central Road Fund (CRF) for projects that were to be developed on state highways.
He bared plans on water travel when Rajnath mentioned that he would like to promote that as well. “We also intend to promote water transport in a big way. The plan is to develop 30 water ports in the state,” Gadkari said.
Both union ministers were of the opinion that politics should not come in the way of development and also appreciated the contribution of the Samajwadi Party government in the state.
After securing projects for his constituency, Rajnath also nudged three other BJP MPs – UP BJP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya (Phulpur), Priyanka Rawat (Barabanki) and Kaushal Kishore (Mohanlalganj) to submit demands for their constituencies as well.
Gadkari announced later that he had accepted Maurya’s demand for a flyover project in Allahabad that would pass through the Kumbh Mela area.
The union minister also said he had cleared a proposal for 300 kilometre highway that would touch Etawah, which UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had been pushing for.
UP chief secretary, Rahul Bhatnagar, while acknowledging the centre’s push for infrastructure development in the state, also spoke of the various initiatives that the state government had undertaken.
He mentioned the AgraLucknow and Lucknow-Ballia expressways as state government initiatives.