UP: Ayodhya airport to be named after Lord Ram

Lucknow Feb 22: The under construction airport in Ayodhya will be named Maryada Purushottam Sriram Airport, Ayodhya after Lord Ram and a provision of Rs 101 crore has been made for it in the budget presented in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Monday.

Besides the provision for the Ayodhya airport which will subsequently be made an international airport, the budget also provides for Rs 2,000 crore for increasing the number of airstrips at Jewar Airport from 2 to 6.

Cities like Aligarh, Moradabad, Meerut will also be linked through air service soon, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath told reporters after the presentation of the budget by Finance Minister Suresh Khanna.

Under the Special Area Programme, a budget of Rs 300 crore is proposed for special schemes of Purvanchal and a budget of Rs 210 crore has been proposed for special schemes of Bundelkhand region.

Stressing on industrial and infrastructure development, a budgetary provision of Rs 1,107 crore has been made for the Purvanchal Expressway Project, Rs 1,492 crore for Bundelkhand Expressway Project and Rs 860 crore for Gorakhpur Link Expressway Project.

For the Ganga Expressway Project, which links Meerut to Allahabad, a provision of Rs 7,200 crore has been made for land acquisition and Rs 489 crore for construction work.

A provision of Rs 12,441 crore has been made for the construction of roads and bridges under the Public Works Department and a budget of Rs 4,135 crore proposed for the maintenance of roads and bridges. A budget of Rs 695 crore has been proposed for connecting villages and habitations with pucca link roads.

It also provides for a budget of Rs 440 crore for construction of roads under World Bank Aided Uttar Pradesh Core Road Network Project and Rs 208 crore for construction of roads under the Asian Development Bank assisted UP Mukhya Zila Vikas Pariyojna.

Besides, a budget of Rs 1,192 crore is proposed for the construction of railway overbridges.