PM lays foundation stone of Ganga Expressway

Shahjahanpur, Dec 18 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday laid the foundation stone of the 594-km Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur district.
Starting near Bijauli village in Meerut, the expressway is till Judapur Dandu village in Prayagraj.
It passes through Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Amroha, Sambhal, Budaun, Shahjahanpur, Hardoi, Unnao, Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Prayagraj districts of the state.
Upon completion of work, it will become the longest expressway of Uttar Pradesh, connecting the western and eastern regions of the state. The six-lane expressway, which is expandable to eight lanes, will be built at a cost of over Rs 36,230 crore.
A 3.5 km-long air strip for assisting emergency take off and landing of Indian Air Force planes will also be constructed on the expressway in Shahjahanpur. An industrial corridor is also proposed to be built along the expressway.
It will provide a big boost to the socio-economic development of the region.

Modi hails Yogi with new coinage ‘Upyogi’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday used a new coinage UPYOGI or ‘UP plus Yogi bahut hai upyogi’ to praise Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for “eliminating” mafias and undertaking a lot of developmental work in the state. Opposition SP and BSP, however, questioned this effusiveness with Akhilesh Yadav saying the present Uttar Pradesh is not ‘upyogi’ (of great utility) but un-upyogi. Addressing a rally after laying the foundation stone of the 594-km-long Ganga Expressway in this Uttar Pradesh district, Modi also said poor law and order led to exodus of people from Uttar Pradesh earlier, but during the past four and half years bulldozers have razed unauthorised properties of mafias, causing pain to those patronising them.
“UP plus Yogi bahut hai upyogi” (Uttar Pradesh plus Yogi have great utility), he said, expanding U.P.Y.O.G.I.
Taking a swipe at Modi’s new punchline, Yadav mentioned the Hathras rape-cum-murder of a Dalit girl and killing of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri to dub the present regime being “unupyogi” (useless) for the state.
In a tweet in Hindi, Akhilesh said “The daughter of Hathras, the farmers of Lakhimpur, the trader of Gorakhpur, women who are feeling insecured, unemployed youth, the Dalits and the backward class (people) are saying…for UP, the current government is not useful, it is useless”.
“People of UP are saying that if someone is “up-yogi” (deputy-yogi), then who is the “mukhya yogi (main yogi),” he wryly said, adding “UP is today saying that it does not want the BJP.”
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati too contested the BJP taking credit for foundation laying of Ganga Expressway.
In a tweet in Hindi, she said the BSP government had planned an 8-lane Ganga Expressway from Noida to Ballia, which would link the Delhi directly to Purvanchal (region of Uttar Pradesh).