LUCKNOW: With an eye on the upcoming Assembly elections, expected by Feb-March 2027, the Uttar Pradesh government is set to deliver a plethora of sops in the days to come.
On Tuesday, the Yogi cabinet decided to provide free scooters to girl students, who complete their graduation.
The scooters will be delivered under the Rani Lakshmibai Scooty Scheme which is available for the students from families with an annual income of less than Rs 12 lakh, and only the top 5% of female students in each university and college will be eligible to get the benefit.
Higher Education Minister Yogendra Upadhyay said: The government will not only provide scooters but also their insurance, registration, helmets, essential accessories, and five litres of petrol.
The scooters will be petrol-powered and will be purchased through the GeM portal. The income limit condition will be relaxed for disabled girl students, daughters of martyrs, and daughters from destitute families.
The proposal was approved during Yogi Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, where 18 proposals got cleared.
The government also announced that the Uttar Pradesh Legislature's monsoon session will be held from August 3 to 6.
In addition, the Cabinet approved the construction of two new expressways in the state, the Vindhya Expressway and the Vindhya–Purvanchal Link Expressway.
Vindhya Expressway will start from the point where Ganga Expressway ends at Sonwar Tehsil in Prayagraj district. After this, it will cover Mirzapur, Bhadohi, Varanasi, and Chandauli to Sonbhadra. It will directly connect UP with the borders of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, thus giving a boost to inter-state trade. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 22,400 crore. It will be 330-kilometre long crossing approximately 341 villages.
In Prayagraj, it will connect with the Ganga Expressway. For this, 2800 hectares of land will be required. After the construction of the expressway, the journey from Prayagraj to Sonbhadra will be completed in three and a quarter hours, which currently takes up to six and a half hours.
The second expressway project which got the cabinet’s is Vindhya-Purvanchal Link Expressway. It will connect the exit point of Purvanchal Expressway in Chandauli-Ghazipur with the Vindhya Expressway. After the construction of this 130-kilometre long expressway, the Purvanchal Expressway, Vindhya Expressway, and Ganga Expressway will be interconnected, providing connectivity from Delhi directly to the borders of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. It will pass through 135 villages in Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, and Mirzapur. For this, 2800 hectares of land will be required.
