Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 341 km Purvanchal Expressway at Karwal Kheri in Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday. He was greeted by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
PM Modi also addressed a public meeting after inaugurating the expressway and witnessed a 45-minute airshow organised by the Indian Air Force. Multiple landings and takeoffs were done from the airstrip by the fighter jets in front of PM Modi and CM Yogi.
Under the ‘touch and go’ operation, the fighter plane touched the expressway and then took off. Planes like Sukhoi, Mirage, Rafale, AN 32e participated in the airshow.
Along with PM Modi and CM Adityanath, Governor Anandiben Patel and other leaders were also present at the occasion.
Purvanchal Expressway inauguration
PM Modi inaugurated the 341 km Purvanchal Expressway after landing on the highway airstrip in an IAF C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft.
The expressway, constructed at an estimated cost of about Rs 22,500 crore, links the state capital Lucknow with eastern districts with links to the major cities of Prayagraj and Varanasi. In addition, the expressway passes through nine districts, including Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur.
The six-lane expressway will be expandable up to eight lanes. Once it is opened to the public, the travel time from Lucknow to Ghazipur will be reduced from 6 hours to 3.5 hours.
The expressway will have a three-km long runway at Kudebhar in Sultanpur district. This runway has been proposed for landing and take-off of fighter jets of the Indian Air Force during an emergency situation.
IAF fighter jets perform sky-high feats on Purvanchal Expressway
As a part of the inauguration of the new Purvanchal Expressway, a grand air show replete with flypast and roller landings by Su-30 MKIs, Jaguars and Mirage 2000 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force was held.
IAF fighter jets performed the ‘touch and go’ operation, under which the aircrafts touched the expressway and then took off.
Mirage 2000 makes landing on airstrip
The IAF’s Mirage 2000 made a landing on the airstrip of Purvanchal Expressway in Karwal Kheri .
AN-32 aircraft lands at Purvanchal Expressway
India’s Garud and Special Forces Commandos were seen exiting from IAF’s AN-32 aircraft after it made a landing at Purvanchal Expressway.
IAF’s Jaguar makes a ‘touch and go’ on airstrip
The IAF’s Jaguar, which is fondly called ‘Shamsher’, made a ‘touch-and-go’ at the Purvanchal Expressway after it was inaugurated by PM Modi.
PM Modi leaves Karwal Kheri on C-130 J Super Hercules aircraft
PM Modi has left Karwal Kheri, Sultanpur after inaugurating the Purvanchal Expressway and witnessing the airshow.
Source : India Today
