Akhilesh to showcase flagship projects to counter Modi juggernaut

Lucknow Metro Rail, Lucknow IT City and Agra-Lucknow Expressway will be completed before the 2016 polls in Uttar Pradesh

After the defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has set in motion his flagship projects to counter the Modi juggernaut.

The foundation of Yadav’s top three projects — Lucknow Metro Rail, Lucknow IT City and the Agra-Lucknow Expressway — have been laid and all these projects are projected to be functional before the 2016 Assembly polls. While Information Technology City is being developed by the technology major HCL under public-private partnership (PPP), the other two projects have been undertaken by the state government with the Centre funding partly in the Metro Rail project.

In the run-up to the 2017 polls, the ruling Samajwadi Party is keen to showcase these projects as counter to Modi’s development agenda encapsulated by his popular catchphrase sabka saath, sabka vikas (together with all, development for all). So much so, Samajwadi Party President Mulayam Singh Yadav has time and again publicly chided the Akhilesh dispensation for its slow pace of work. In the foundation-laying ceremony of Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Akhilesh Yadav had also stressed the project would be completed before polls. It is estimated to cost nearly Rs 15,000 crore.

The foundation of the Metro Rail project was laid in March 2014. It is estimated to cost over Rs 16,000 crore spanning two corridors. The foundation of IT City, in Lucknow, was laid on October 15 in the presence of HCL promoter Shiv Nadar.

Besides, there are several other infrastructure projects underway, including linking district headquarters with four-lane highways, ramping up power generation and transmission, providing 22 hours and 16 hours uninterrupted power supply in all urban and rural areas, respectively.

Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) and a state-of-the-art Medanta Awadh hospital are also being set up in the state.

After drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls, Akhilesh had dumped populist schemes, including free laptop, unemployment dole, Kanya Vidya Dhan. The pre-poll promises of these schemes were largely credited for giving a windfall to the party in 2012 state polls.

However, these schemes failed to deliver for Samajwadi Party as 2014 polls were fought on issues of development and youth empowerment.

Apart from these projects, there are several other infrastructure projects underway, including linking district headquarters with four-lane highways, ramping up power generation and transmission, providing 22 hrs and 16 hrs uninterrupted power supply in all urban and rural areas, respectively.