No date has been officially announced for PM Modi's programme in UP. (File)
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will soon lay the foundation stone of the six-lane Ganga Expressway, connecting Meerut to Allahabad in the state.
Though no date has been officially announced for the prime minister's programme, government sources said he is likely to visit Shahjahanpur on December 18 and also address a public meeting.
Mr Adityanath, who was in Shahjahanpur to oversee preparations for the scheduled event, said, "This programme of the PM is very important for giving new heights to the economy of Uttar Pradesh."
The chief minister held a meeting with officials from different districts of the Bareilly division as well as with public representatives.
He said he had come to invite public representatives and local people to the prime minister's programme.
"The Prime Minister is coming here to lay the foundation stone of a mega project. The Ganga Expressway, connecting the western UP to eastern UP, will be the biggest expressway of the country. It will be 600-km-long six-lane expressway, expandable to eight lanes, and will be constructed from Meerut to Prayagraj at a cost of Rs 36,000 crore," Mr Adityanath told reporters.
He said 7,386 hectares of land from 518 gram panchayats has been taken for this expressway to be built through Shahjahanpur and Pratapgarh. The work on the project will begin soon, he added.
An airstrip for emergency landing of aircraft will also be there on the expressway in Shahjahanpur. Plans are also to develop an industrial cluster, Mr Adityanath said.
The foundation stone laying event of this expressway would be a historic moment, from the point of view of development and removing economic imbalance and generating employment opportunities and increasing per capita income, he said.
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