Bolstering the Uttar Pradesh government’s efforts to improve connectivity in the state, the Central government has allocated UP 16 times more money in the rail budget compared to what the state received between 2009 and 2014. The Modi government has granted Uttar Pradesh a rail budget of Rs 17,507 crore in 2022-2023 alone, compared to Rs 1,109 crore between 2009-14.
It is noteworthy that the Central government has announced the highest railway budget of Rs 2.4 lakh crore this time. According to the Railway Ministry, this budget is nine times more than the budget for 2013-14. The Yogi government of Uttar Pradesh is working fast in the direction of infrastructure and connectivity.
At present, work is going on in the state on new lines covering a distance of 7,143 km under 83 projects, on which about Rs 94,000 crore are being spent. Besides, 55 surveys are to be done for the long railway lines of 3,831 km.
Among the projects related to the new lines connecting Uttar Pradesh with other states, one is Lalitpur-Satna, Rewa-Singrauli and Mahoba-Khajuraho, on which Rs 700 crore will be spent. Similarly, Rs 390 crore will be spent on Bahraich-Shrawasti and Balrampur-Tulsipur lines.
Besides, Rs 284 crore will be spent on building the new Energy Corridor line in 2023-2024, Rs 284 crore on the Janjatiya Gaurav Corridor (Umbrella 23-24), Rs 205 crore on Sahjanwa-Dohrighat line, Rs 200 crore on Deoband (Muzaffarnagar)-Roorkee and Rs 150 crore on Mau-Ghazipur-Tarighat lines, Rs 20 crore on the Umbrella Project, Rs 20 crore on Anand Nagar-Ghughli, Rs 10 crore on Padrauna-Kushinagar via Gorakhpur and Rs 30 lakh on Meerut-Panipat line.
There is a lot of work being done on gauge conversions in the state. This has allowed for the conversion of narrow gauge lines into broad gauge. A total of Rs 100 crore each will be spent on the Mathura-Vrindavan and Lucknow-Pilibhit lines via Sitapur and Lakhimpur route, Rs 50 crore on the Bahraich-Mailani bypass, Rs 35 crore on the Indara-Dohrighat route, Rs 3 crore on the Pilibhit-Shahjahanpur route, and Rs 50 lakh on the Kanpur-Kasganj-Mathura line.
The state has recently made significant progress in the area of rapid connectivity. In 2017, the state had only two airports. As of now, nine airports are operational, and construction is ongoing on 10 more. Both the Purvanchal Expressway in Eastern UP and the Bundelkhand Expressway in the Bundelkhand region provide improved connectivity.
The Ganga Expressway will link eastern and western UP. The Yamuna and Agra Expressway links Uttar Pradesh with the national capital. Besiders, there is a 4-four lane road connectivity between Uttar Pradesh and its neighbouring states as well as Nepal. There is metro rail connectivity in five cities and the trial of rapid rail has also taken place recently. Being a landlocked state no longer poses a problem and the country’s first waterway has started from Varanasi to Haldia.
