Lucknow: The Public Works Department (PWD) in Uttar Pradesh has drawn up a massive plan for roads connecting to religious destinations.
The PWD has chalked out an action plan for spending Rs 16,000 crore that is going to be provided by the National Highways Authority of India for upgrading the road infrastructure in the state.
The major portion of the funds will be utilised for boosting future prospects of religious towns like Ayodhya and Mathura.
The spokesman said that Rs 4,000 crore have been set aside exclusively to develop Ram Van Gaman Marg.
Spanning over a distance of 177 km, the Ram Van Gaman Marg will link places where Lord Rama spent time after leaving Ayodhya for the 14-year exile.
According to the draft route map, the PWD is going to link Ayodhya to Pratapgarh, Prayagraj, Kaushambhi before the route culminates at Chitrakoot.
The department is planning to create a resting area on the route for pilgrims to stay.
Similarly, the Ram Janaki route that starts in Ayodhya and will go up to Janakpur in Nepal via Basti and Sant Kabir Nagar will be widened to four-lane with a budget of Rs 2,000 crore.
Two more religious projects will be to widen and develop the ’84 Kosi Parikrama’ routes in Mathura-Vrindavan and Ayodhya.
For both the routes, PWD has received funds from the NHAI and will spend Rs 2,000 crore each on the two routes.
On both the Parikrama routes, a walkway will be created alongside the road.
Trees will be planted and sheds and rest areas be set up at regular intervals.
All the projects will be included in the list of national highways within two to five years.
The Department has also lined up civil works in Barabanki, Amethi, Balrampur, Pratapgarh, Basti, Mirzapur and Prayagraj.
According to an official spokesman, among the new routes that have been planned are bypass routes to improve access to Balrampur with a budget of Rs 250 crore, bypass 2 in Amethi with a budget of Rs 200 crore, bypass 2 in Pratapgarh with a budget of Rs 150 crore.
A link route between the Dewa Shareif shrine in Barabanki to Lakhimpur Kheri and a new four-lane bridge over the Ganga and a bypass in Mirzapur will be developed with funds worth Rs 700 crore.
To monitor the progress and quality of the road construction work, five new divisions (Ayodhya, Jaunpur, Siddharth Nagar, Sitapur and Agra) have been set up where senior engineers will be deputed.
–IANS