Lucknow: In the continuation of the ongoing efforts to make the road infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh world-class, on Saturday between CM Yogi Adityanath, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari and Minister of State General VK Singh. An important meeting took place. Public Works Minister Jitin Prasad and Minister of State Brijesh Singh were also present on this occasion.

CM Yogi Adityanath said that in the last five and a half years under the guidance of the Prime Minister, unprecedented work has been done in the field of road infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh. Till 2017 there are only 06 expressways in this state which has only 01 expressway. National highways have also become almost double as compared to 5 years ago. There has been an unprecedented improvement in border area connectivity. These roads are the medium of progress. The cooperation of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India is becoming a partner in the development of the state.

Referring to the social, strategic and economic importance of the state, the Chief Minister explained the need for new projects and said that if the Government of India starts new highways/greenfield road projects in the state, then government land would be provided free of cost by the state government. 

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the state government wants to take the cooperation of NHAI for the renovation of all the bus stations in the state. Bus stations in all 75 districts can be rebuilt in a phased manner. NHAI can develop it in PPP mode. Welcoming this proposal, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari directed the officials to send a proposal of 25 bus stations in the first phase.

It was decided in the meeting that the Central Ministry, NHAI and the concerned departments of the State Government would review the progress of the projects every month. On the lines of Varanasi, the ropeway construction project in Ghaziabad, Mathura-Vrindavan, Bundelkhand and Sonbhadra was also discussed. On which Union Minister Gadkari assured of all necessary cooperation.

The proposal for four-lane widening of the Pratapgarh-Sultanpur-Ayodhya state highway was also agreed in the discussion on projects related to Kumbh 2025. On the proposal of widening it before the upcoming Kumbh due to high traffic and religious tourism area in Rae Bareli-Prayagraj section of National Highway 24-B, the Union Minister directed the officials to conduct necessary tests for this.

Describing the need to establish more and more national highways in the state, CM Yogi said that the inclusion of Gorakhpur-Siliguri, Varanasi-Kolkata and Gorakhpur-Bareilly corridors in Bharatmala Project-2 will give a new flight to the progress of the state. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari informed about the new project of construction of 12 railway overbridges at a cost of about ₹1,000 crore.

CM Yogi said that at present most of the national highways and expressways built in Uttar Pradesh run from east to west direction. But keeping in view the social and strategic importance of the state, starting from the districts adjacent to the Nepal border and connecting the important districts of Uttar Pradesh from north to south direction, commercially important places like ports, industrial areas and mineral rich areas in the country. It is necessary to connect.

Ring road/bypass road is required for all the divisional headquarters of the state. Gosainganj-Bani-Mohan road, Sitapur-Lakhimpur-Gauriphanta road, Tundla-Eta-Kasganj highway, Chandausi-Moradabad-Farrukhabad highway, Naimisharanya on behalf of the state government in this meeting held in the presence of the concerned departmental officers of the Government of India and the State Government. Proposal was made for the strengthening of various routes including Gola Gokarnath-Mata Purnagiri-Shahjahanpur-Farrukhabad.