Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], July 13 (HBTV): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath organised a Janta Darshan in Lucknow on Monday, where a young girl named Vashi requested his help to enroll in school. Yogi interacted with the girl, asking which school and class she wished to join, and instructed officials to facilitate her admission.

Vashi, who had come from Moradabad, later described the encounter, saying, ‘I met Yogi ji. I asked him to enrol me in a school. He said he would do it.’ She added, ‘He gave me a biscuit and chocolate.’

Since becoming Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath has regularly conducted Janta Darshan programmes to hear and address public grievances.

Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated the 91.35 km long Gorakhpur Link Expressway, built at a cost of INR 7,283 crore. The expressway connects several districts, including Azamgarh, to Gorakhpur. CM Yogi said the new Uttar Pradesh is shaping a distinct identity as the ‘expressway state’.

Addressing a public gathering, he said, ‘The new Uttar Pradesh of the new India is making its new identity as the “expressway state.” The inauguration of the 91.35 km long Gorakhpur Link Expressway is a historic moment for eastern Uttar Pradesh. Under the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh is reaching new heights of development, confidence and glory with the largest expressway network in the country.’

Criticising the previous state government, CM Yogi remarked that while the Agra–Lucknow Expressway project was incomplete during their tenure, his administration has completed six expressway projects.

‘The work on the Agra–Lucknow Expressway was half done. Today, I am happy to tell you that we have completed six projects. You are witnessing the journey of the Purvanchal Expressway. We have been continuously building it since 2021. In 2022, the Bundelkhand Expressway was started. It is 300 km long. The 340 km long Purvanchal Expressway has already been completed, and its connectivity to Patna is about to be completed. Now remember how easy the connectivity from Patna to Lucknow and Lucknow to Delhi will become,’ he said.

He noted that the 340 km-long Purvanchal Expressway is close to achieving full connectivity to Patna. Referring to freedom fighter Veer Kunwar Singh, he added that had the expressway existed in 1857, it could have altered the course of Indian history.

‘When Veer Kunwar Singh, the hero of the first war of independence in 1857, fought the British till Azamgarh to defeat them, there was no connectivity. If this Purvanchal Expressway had been there at that time, the people of Azamgarh would have beaten the British along with Veer Kunwar Singh, and then this country would have become independent in 1857 itself. There was no connectivity at that time,’ he said.

(ANI)