Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated a 246-km section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Rajasthan's Dausa.
The PM pressed the button of a remote to mark the opening of the Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot section.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Union MoS V K Singh, Union minister Gajendra Singh and other leaders were present on the stage at the function.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal khattar addressed the programme through a video link.
While Gehlot joined the programme from the chief minister's residence in Jaipur, Khattar addressed the programme from a function held in Nuh district
The Prime Minister dedicated the first section of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway Delhi, from – Dausa – Lalsot, to the nation.
The opening of the Rajasthan leg of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will reduce the travel time from Delhi to Jaipur from five hours to around three and a half hours.
Ahead of its inauguration, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inspected the control room of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in Sohna, Haryana on Sunday.
"State-of-the-art technology has been used in the control room for the safety of passengers and to help them in case of emergency," a tweet by the Union Minister read.
During the inspection, Nitin Gadkari said that the travel time between Delhi and Mumbai will reduce to barely 12 hours after the entire expressway is completed.
India’s longest expressway
As per government, the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will be India’s longest expressway with a length of 1,386 km. It will reduce the travel distance between Delhi and Mumbai from 1,424 km to 1,242 Km and travel time from 24 hours to 12 hours. It will pass through six states including Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, and connect major cities like Kota, Indore, Jaipur, Bhopal, Vadodara, and Surat. The Expressway will also serve 93 PM Gati Shakti Economic Nodes, 13 Ports, 8 Major Airports, and 8 multi-modal logistics parks (MMLPs) along with spurs to new upcoming greenfield airports such as Jewar Airport, Navi Mumbai Airport, and JNPT port.
The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of 247 kilometres of ational Highway projects to be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 5940 crore. This includes a 67-km four-lane spur road from Bandikui to Jaipur, a six-lane spur road from Kotputli to Baraodaneo and two-lane paved shoulder of Lalsot - Karauli section.
(With agency inputs)
