Jaipur Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday visit Rajasthan’s Dausa district to inaugurate the Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, with the 246km stretch set to reduce the travel time between the national capital and Jaipur from five hours to three and a half.
Developed at a cost of over ₹12,150 crore, this first completed section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will provide a major boost to the economic development of the entire region, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a release.
PM Modi will also lay the foundation stone and dedicate to the nation road development projects worth over ₹18,100 crore. Besides, the Prime Minister is also scheduled to inaugurate the 14th edition of Aero India 2023 at Air Force Station in poll-bound Karnataka’s Yelahanka area on Monday.
“The Prime Minister’s emphasis on the building of excellent road infrastructure as an engine of growth, development and connectivity in New India, is being realised by the construction of a number of ongoing world class expressways across the country,” the PMO said. “One such important project is the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, whose first completed section, Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot will be dedicated to the nation by the PM.”
The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will be India’s longest expressway with a length of 1,386km. “It will reduce travel distance between Delhi and Mumbai by 12% from 1,424km to 1,242km and travel time will be reduced by 50% from 24 hours to 12 hours,” the PMO said. “It will pass through six states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra and connect major cities like Kota, Indore, Jaipur, Bhopal, Vadodara and Surat.”
The expressway will also serve 93 PM Gati Shakti Economic Nodes, 13 ports, eight major airports and eight multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs) along with spurs to new upcoming greenfield airports such as Jewar, Navi Mumbai and JNPT port. “The expressway will have a catalytic impact in the developmental trajectory of all adjoining regions, thus contributing in a major way in the economic transformation of the country,” it said.
During the programme, Modi will also lay the foundation stone of 247km of national highway projects to be developed at a cost of over ₹5,940 crore. “This includes 67km four-lane spur road from Bandikui to Jaipur to be developed at a cost of more than ₹2,000 crore, a six-lane spur road from Kotputli to Baraodaneo, to be developed at a cost of ₹3,775 crore and a two-lane paved shoulder of Lalsot–Karoli section, being developed at a cost of about ₹150 crore,” it added.
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot, meanwhile, accused the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state of “politicising” Modi’s Dausa visit by holding a public meeting, to be addressed by the PM, close to the venue.
“I have heard that it is a big programme, we could come on one stage. They (BJP) knew that I would raise the issue of ERCP… I understand that to avoid that, the PMO and others involved in this, leaders from the state … the one who is a Union minister … would have said to him that you have chosen a venue (Dausa) which comes under ERCP, therefore, change it,” Gehlot told reporters on Friday.
He claimed that only 100-200 people will remain present at the official function and the public meeting will be held separately by the BJP. “This is the new way they have found now,” he said.
Gehlot and other Congress leaders have been repeatedly demanding that the Centre award the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP), aimed at addressing the drinking and irrigation water needs of 13 eastern Rajasthan districts, including Dausa, the status of a national project. The project was conceptualised by the former BJP government led by the then CM Vasundhara Raje.
According to the Congress, Modi had in election rallies in 2018 and 2019 promised to give the ERCP national project status, which was yet to be accorded.
Reacting to Gehlot’s accusation, BJP legislator and spokesperson Ram Lal Sharma said the CM only makes political statements. He has presented five budgets and not even 50% of the announcements made in the last four budgets have been implemented on the ground, Sharma alleged. “He (the CM) is a master in giving political statements. He should not worry about Modi but focus on infighting within his own party.”