Akhilesh Yadav slams Centre on opening "incomplete" expressway

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party head Akhilesh Yadav accused the Centre of rushing to open a "half-complete" expressway after PM Modi inaugurated Bundelkhand Expressway on Saturday. Yadav said that the government is championing a "chaltaau" culture, PTI reported.

He tweeted in Hindi, "The hurriedness in the inauguration of the half-complete Bundelkhand Expressway shows that its design is 'chaltaau' (make-do)."

"So, even with Defence Corridor near to it, the BJP government could not construct an airstrip like the one constructed on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway during the Samajwadi Party government," he said.

आधे-अधूरे बुंदेलखंड एक्सप्रेस-वे के उद्घाटन की हड़बड़ी बताती है कि इसका डिज़ाइन भी ऐसे ही चलताऊ बना है तभी डिफ़ेंस कॉरिडोर के पास होने के बाद भी यहाँ भाजपा सरकार, सपा काल में बने आगरा-लखनऊ एक्सप्रेस-वे जैसी हवाई पट्टी न बना पाई। इसे चित्रकूट तक विकसित न करना दूरदृष्टि की कमी है। pic.twitter.com/KjhQPcOGoP

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 16, 2022

Yadav also posted a video along with his tweet.

PM Modi laid the foundation stone for the four-lane expressway in February. It will connect Chitrakoot with the Lucknow-Agra Expressway. The government had informed that the project took 28 months to complete.

The expressway was constructed by Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA) at the cost of around Rs 14,850 crore. The expressway could be expanded to six lanes in future. Extending from National Highway (NH)-35 at Gonda village near Bharatkoop in Chitrakoot district to near Kudrail village in Etawah district, where it merges with the Agra-Lucknow expressway, the expressway passes through Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jalaun, Auraiya, and Etawah.

The government expects the expressway to give a significant boost to economic development and job creation, along with improvement in connectivity in the region.

Further, works on making an industrial corridor in Banda and Jalaun district, next to the highway, have started.