PM Modi inaugurates Eastern Peripheral Expressway

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) expressway, also known as the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) at the District Sports stadium in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh.

"Today is a very big day for the people of Baghpat, Western-Uttar Pradesh and Delhi-NCR. Two major road projects have been inaugurated today," said Prime Minister Modi, who also inaugurated the first phase of the Delhi-Meerut expressway in New Delhi earlier today.

"Today, when I got the opportunity to travel on this new road, I realised how this 14-lane journey will make the life of the people of Delhi-NCR very comfortable. Soon people will be able to travel between Delhi-Meerut in 45 minutes," he said

"One reason for the problem of pollution in Delhi is the long traffic jams. Taking this problem seriously, our government took the lead in creating a circle of Expressway around Delhi. The number of vehicles entering Delhi will be decreased by about 30 percent now. Not just big cars and trucks, but more than 50 thousand cars will no longer need entry inside the city of Delhi through these expressways," the Prime minister added.

The 135-km EPE is India's first smart and green highway and is built at a cost of Rs. 11,000 crore. It is also the country's first highway to be lit by solar power and at every 500 metres, the arrangement of rainwater harvesting has been done on both sides of the expressway.

"By next March, Eastern Peripheral Expressway will be completed and you will be able to travel to Delhi from Meerut only in 40 minutes," Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said.

Also present at the event were Uttar Pradesh and Haryana Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath and Manohar Lal Khattar.

"The Eastern Peripheral Expressway is going to be a lifeline for the people of Delhi. I express my gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on behalf of the people of Uttar Pradesh," Adityanath said.

Meanwhile, Khattar said: "Yesterday, the BJP government completed four years. I welcome the Prime Minister on behalf of the people of Haryana. We are preparing for the Lok Sabha polls in 2019 too. The foundation for this expressway was laid in Kundli in Haryana."

On a related note, the Delhi-Meerut expressway stretches from Nizamuddin Bridge in Delhi to Delhi-UP Border.

The14-lane highway will reduce the travel time between the two cities to only 45 minutes from the present four to five hours.