Another project in Yogi Adityanath governed Uttar Pradesh may reportedly get renamed after ex-PM of India soon. The UP government is now planning to change the name of the Yamuna Expressway, reported Livemint citing a Live Hindustan report. There is a discussion that now Yamuna Expressway can be named after former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it said.
Several other reports cited sources saying that the Yamuna Expressway is likely to be renamed on November 25 during the foundation-laying ceremony of the Noida International Airport at Jewar. It is reported that a formal announcement regarding the renaming of the Yamuna Expressway will be done during the inauguration event.
For the unversed, Yamuna Expressway, also known as Taj Expressway, was the first expressway of UP, started during the tenure of BSP supremo Mayawati. However, this expressway could not be completed during Mayawati’s time. It was later inaugurated by Akhilesh Yadav, who became the new Chief Minister on 9 August 2012, three months after the formation of Akhilesh Yadav’s government. This expressway was built by Jaypee Group.
It is a 6-lane 165-km long expressway that connects Greater Noida in the National Capital Region (NCR) with Agra in Uttar Pradesh. The expressway is constructed at a cost of over Rs 14,000 crore.
It is worth mentioning that Yamuna Expressway will not be the first project in Uttar Pradesh to bear the name of the former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stalwart. Earlier, the UP government had renamed the Ekana International Cricket Stadium in the state capital Lucknow as ‘Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee International Cricket Stadium’ in November 2018, soon after Vajpayee’s demise.
Meanwhile, as per the financial daily report, CM Yogi will be going to Jewar today in order to take stock of the preparations for the airport’s inauguration. He will inspect the venue, and a review meeting will be held with the officials.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Noida International Airport (NIA) in Jewar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh on November 25 at 1 pm. According to Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Uttar Pradesh will become the only state in India to have five international airports.
“The development of the airport is in line with the vision of the Prime Minister towards boosting connectivity and creating a future-ready aviation sector. A special focus of this grand vision has been on the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) that is witnessing the development of multiple new international airports including the recently inaugurated Kushinagar airport and the under construction international airport at Ayodhya,” said a press release by PMO.
This airport will be the second international airport to come up in Delhi NCR. It will help decongest the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport. The airport is strategically located and will serve the people of cities including Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Agra, Faridabad and neighbouring areas.
