When the stream of Ganga hits a stone, it does not cut it, but grinds it and molds it into the shape of its path. The fate of Uttar Pradesh has also been similar. This land has given birth to civilizations and sown revolutions, yet till a decade ago an irony remained stuck on its forehead that this state, which houses one-sixth of the country’s population, was often seen standing at the back row in the race of development. This contradictory legacy of history now stands at the threshold of a new chapter and the name of that threshold is Ganga Expressway, which is now materializing as a big example of the resolve of the Yogi government.
594 Kms…Meerut to Prayagraj…This is not just the length of a road, but the length of that thinking, which believes that to change a state, first a new blood circulation system has to be created in its veins. When such a big line is drawn on land, it not only changes the geography, it changes the map of possibilities for the people living in that geography. Ganga Expressway is one such transformative intervention for Uttar Pradesh, to understand which one has to know not only the language of engineering but also the language of economics, sociology and foresight.
An old wound of Uttar Pradesh is the gap between West and East. Western Uttar Pradesh, defined by cities like Meerut, Noida, Ghaziabad, Agra, has industries, markets, employment, and a certain kind of modernity. But, as you move towards the east, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Azamgarh, Ballia,,,, a different Uttar Pradesh is found. There are fields, temples, rivers, and limitless human possibilities, but there was a severe lack of opportunities in those possibilities.
Ganga Expressway is the biggest physical effort to bridge this divide. When Meerut and Prayagraj are connected by a fast, easy, reliable road, it is actually a meeting of two economic poles, not two cities. The labor force and agricultural products of Purvanchal start reaching the markets of the West. Western capital and entrepreneurship are drawn to the East’s cheap land and available labour. This is the economic gravity that arises when distances shrink, not only in kilometers, but also in time and cost.
There is an old truth in the world of logistics, industries are attracted to places where the cost of transportation of goods is lower. Logistics costs in India are almost double that of developed countries. This additional cost weakens the competitiveness of industries, makes products expensive and hinders exports. When high-speed corridors like the Ganga Expressway are built, this equation changes. Goods arrive faster, storage requirements are reduced, transport times are reduced and the entire supply chain becomes more reliable. A truck passing through the Ganga Expressway will not only carry goods, it will take the economic competitiveness of Uttar Pradesh a notch higher.
But, the real transformation will happen when an industrial ecosystem grows along the expressway. The government plans to develop industrial nodes, warehousing hubs and MSME clusters. If this scheme comes to fruition with the right intentions and proper implementation, then Uttar Pradesh can get a new ‘growth spine’. The backbone on which an entire economic body stands. /U is especially important for tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Hardoi, Shahjahanpur, Badaye, Sambhal, Rae Bareli, Unnao, these are the cities which till now were sidelined from the mainstream of development. Access to the expressway will connect them to a larger economic network.
This analysis is incomplete without talking about farmers. The biggest pain of a farmer is not that he does not work hard, but that he does not get the right price for his hard work. The crop ripens in the field, but by the time it reaches the market, both its freshness and its price fall. Lack of cold chain, bad roads and slow access to the market, these three things together waste a large part of the farmer’s produce. Ganga Expressway will speed up the journey from farm to market. If along with this, cold storage, food processing units and agri-logistics hubs are developed along the expressway, then it will not take long to change the fortunes of the farmers. This is the point in development where infrastructure directly connects to the quality of human life.
There is another dimension of the expressway that is often ignored in public discourse — the transformation of real estate. Whenever high-speed connectivity comes to an area, land prices change. New residential areas emerge, people leave the expensive areas of the city and start settling along the expressways. However, there are also dangers of land speculation and unequal profit distribution in this process, to avoid which the government will have to take active policy intervention. This expressway is also important from strategic point of view. Its structure has been made such that in case of emergency it can be used as an airstrip of the Air Force. This feature makes it not only an economic project but also a national security asset.
The psychology of investors is also worth considering in this context. When a state completes a project of this scale on time, with transparency and with efficiency, it does not just build a road, it sends a message that the state is now serious. The government is working here. Here your capital is safe and your projects will not get stuck. This abstract trust gives very concrete results. Uttar Pradesh, which was once counted among the sick states, is now presenting itself as a modern, investment-friendly and ambitious state. The Ganga Expressway is the most visible symbol of this new image.
But a warning is also necessary here. Infrastructure does not bring about change in itself, it merely creates the conditions for change. There are countless examples where great roads were built, bridges were raised, ports were built but life around them did not change because the policy environment did not change with them. Change will happen when the government’s resolutions are visible on the ground along with the roads.. when farmers get fair compensation, youth get skill training, entrepreneurs get quick permission and the environment is taken care of. Despite these challenges, it has to be acknowledged that the Ganga Expressway is an expression of the thinking of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who believes that Uttar Pradesh will no longer be recognized merely by the boast of being the ‘largest state’, but by the reality of being the ‘fastest developing state’.
When a road is built, future footsteps also start getting imprinted on it. The first truck that will run on the Ganga Expressway, the first bus that will go from Meerut to Prayagraj, the first farmer who will pass through this road with his vegetables, all of them will be the first witnesses of this change. For them this road will not be just a road. This will be the fulfillment of a promise, which crores of people of this state had asked from this Yogi government.
[यह लेखक के निजी विचार है. ]
