“We want to take development to new heights. In the coming days, be it Rail, Road or Electricity - we’re working on to make these available for the people in a modern way. If these services are developed, then society, with its own strength can touch skies of development.” - Narendra Modi
It is the result of this thinking of PM Narendra Modi that the emphasis is on infrastructure in his constituency of Varanasi. Everything from roads to railway stations, water-ways and airways is getting equal attention. A network of roads is being laid up here for the past two and a half years. Construction and widening of the main roads connecting Varanasi is being carried with an expense of Rs. 8014.57 Crores. Out of this amount, Rs. 7000 Crores is being spent on the widening of national highways connecting Varanasi to Sultanpur, Azamgarh, Gorakhpur, Aurangabad and other nearby cities which includes many new flyovers, bridges and bypasses to be constructed.
Widening and beautification of the road from Babatpur airport to Kachehri is being done with an expense of Rs. 753.57 Crores. Varanasi ring road is also being constructed. Along with this, widening of 125 KM stretch of Varanasi-Hanumanaha road is also being carried out.
Development of waterway is also being done alongside the roadways in Varanasi, which is planned with an expenditure of Rs. 381 crores. In phase-1, 1380 Km long waterway is being developed from Haldia to Varanasi, which is planned to accommodate a multi-model terminal worth Rs. 211 crore, a river information system worth Rs. 100 crore, a night navigation system with a corpus of Rs. 50 crore and Ro-Ro Crossing worth Rs. 20 crore.
Railway is working here on large scale. With a cost of Rs. 1105.25 crores, railways are carrying out the work to improve all stations and provide civil facilities. Moreover, 17 pair of trains has started operating from here.
The air services and facilities for travellers have been improved at the Babatpur airport. Additional check-in counters have been set-up and additional boarding gates have been created here. Direct flights from Varanasi to Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar and Bengaluru have started operating. The Airport is being expanded to facilitate take-off of bigger aircrafts from here.
