Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority Chief Executive Officer Awanish Kumar Awasthi on Sunday visited Banda district and inspected the progress of the Bundelkhand Expressway project. 

The expressway will link the Bundelkhand region with national capital Delhi through the Agra-Lucknow Expressway and Agra Noida expressway.

Awasthi, who is also the Principal Secretary (Home), was given the guard of honour at the district Police Lines. Later, he went through the report on acquisition of land for the Bundelkhand Expressway and expressed satisfaction over the progress.  

He said so far 90 per cent of the land needed for the Bundelkhand Expressway project had been acquired and acquisition of the remaining 10 per cent land would be completed in the next two months.  

The UPEIDA CEO also expressed the hope that the construction work on the expressway would commence as soon as the land acquisition work was completed. 

He also inspected the work relating to digging of ponds in Banda. The soil taken out from the ponds will be used in the construction of the expressway, he said.

Talking to the media, Awasthi said a tourist police station was proposed to be set up at Kalinjar Fort. He held detailed discussion with DIG Deepak Kumar in this connection. 

Awasthi said besides the tourist police station at Kalinjar Fort, the government was contemplating several structural reforms in the police administration in the state.  

He said new police stations and other buildings were proposed in the districts of Bundelkhand regions — Mahoba, Chitrakoot and Hamirpur.

The Principal Secretary (Home) also appreciated the concept of “Good Morning Policing’, introduced by the Superintendent of Police of Banda, Ganesh Prasad Saha. 

He said the initiative of the Banda district police chief had helped in improving communication between the police and the common man.

Awasthi said he had collected details of the initiative and would send a proposal to the government to introduce it across the state.