- Wednesday, February 26, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (16) landed in a Hercules transport aircraft on a newly laid motorway in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and the spectacular stunt highlighted the country’s dual-use roads that also double up as military airstrips in times of emergency. He inaugurated the motorway which is believed to serve multiple purposes.
The giant military jet carrying Modi came down on a straight stretch of the new expressway ahead of a brief air show by the Indian Air Force with French Mirage jets and Russian Su-30MKIs that used the road as a runway. The six-lane expressway, called the Purvanchal Expressway, is 341 kilometres in length and connects Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow with the largely backward eastern regions of the state which goes to polls early next year.
Seamless connectivity and greater comfort.
The Purvanchal Expressway will transform Eastern UP and further economic progress across this region. pic.twitter.com/OPp7Lczida
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 16, 2021
.With China, India’s hostile neighbour to the north, constructing infrastructure and upgrading the existing ones along the 3,488-kilometre-long Line of Actual Control, the 3.3-kilometre-long runway near Kurebhar village in Sultanpur district on the Purvanchal Expressway is designed to play a major role to facilitate the military in case the situation worsens.
“India’s prosperity is as important as our national security. This expressway has become a new strength for our Air Force,” Modi said at a public gathering at the event.
India has another hybrid highway in the north-western state of Rajasthan bordering Pakistan, another hostile neighbour to the west.
The Indian government has plans to set up 12 other such highways to boost the military capabilities keeping in view the growing tensions with China as it deepens defence ties with the US and other western countries.
Besides, the expressway is also a part of a multi-million-dollar push to better India’s under-developed road network, AFP reported.
The Modi government claims that it has upgraded more than 50,000 kilometres of highways across India since coming to power in 2014. In 2021, it plans to construct another 11,000 kilometres.
According to authorities, the Purvanchal Expressway, which cost almost $3 billion, will reduce travel time by two-and-half hours between Lucknow and the state’s easternmost district of Ghazipur. Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, which also rules UP, India’s most important state politically, is of the opinion that the road network will boost the region’s economic development and promote tourism in cities like Ayodhya, a major Hindu holy city, AFP added.
