UP, UP AND AWAY

Awanish Kumar Awasthi, CEO, Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), has taken on the onerous task of completing five massive ongoing infrastructure projects

- JAYASHREE KINI MENDES

Perhaps there’s no other state in India that is see-ing so much action as much as Uttar Pradesh is. With five massive projects on a steady work-in-progress, it is perhaps the only state that is investing on rapid infrastructure development. Hitherto, it was also one of the states that have the largest population by density and a lethargic attitude to development. But that is now history.

The idea to rapidly develop and complete large-scale expressways that will connect Uttar Pradesh to other parts of the country was conceived by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and this responsibility has been thrust on the able shoulders of Awanish Kumar Awasthi, CEO, Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA). The bureaucrat has been working diligently with government projects and companies and has a reputation for being fair, honest and upright. Besides, he is also the state additional chief secretary (home) for Uttar Pradesh.

THINKING BIG

One of the earliest projects to be proposed was the ambitious Purvanchal expressway. Close on the heels of the project came Bundelkhand expressway, Gorakhpur Link expressway, UP Defence Corridor, and Ganga expressway. All the projects are being executed at a whopping Rs 84,000 crore!

It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who laid the foundation for Purvanchal and Bundelkhand expressways. Similarly, it was the PM who announced the UP Defence Corridor project at the first UP Investors Summit in 2018.