PM to lay foundation stone for BundelKhand Expressway tomorrow

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for the Bundelkhand Expressway at Chitrakoot on Saturday. The Expressway will be supplementing the nodes of the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor announced by the Government of India in February 2018.

The Uttar Pradesh Government is constructing the Bundelkhand Expressway which will pass through the districts of Chitrakoot, Banda, Hamirpur and Jalaun. This expressway will link the Bundelkhand area to the national capital Delhi through Agra-Lucknow expressway and Yamuna expressway as well as play a vital role in the development of Bundelkhand region. The 296-kilometre long Expressway is expected to benefit Chitrakoot, Banda, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Jaloun, Oraiyah and Etawah districts.

India has huge defence equipment requirements spanning from land systems, ships and submarines to fighter aircraft, helicopters, weapons and sensors. The requirements are worth over 250 billion dollars by 2025. In order to fulfil the requirements, the government had announced setting up of Defence Industrial Corridor in Uttar Pradesh during the Investors Summit on 21st February 2018 at Lucknow.

The Central Government has set up the corridor with identification of six nodes initially. These are Lucknow, Jhansi, Chitrakoot, Aligarh, Kanpur, Agra out of which two nodes are being created in Bundelkhand region at Jhansi and Chitrakoot. The biggest cluster would be created at Jhansi. The land which was not being cultivated has been purchased in both Jhansi and Chitrakoot. The poor farmers of the region have got benefitted from this.

Mr Modi will also launch 10



thousand Farmer Producer Organizations, FPOs all over the country at Chitrakoot on Saturday. Nearly 86 per cent of farmers are small and marginal with average land holdings in the country being less than 1.1 hectare. These small, marginal and landless farmers face tremendous challenges during agriculture production phase such as for access to technology, quality seed, fertilizers and pesticides including requisite finances. They also face tremendous challenges in marketing their produce due to lack of economic strength. FPOs help in collectivization of such small, marginal and landless farmers in order to give them the collective strength to deal with such issues. Members of the FPO will manage their activities together in the organization to get better access to technology, input, finance and market for faster enhancement of their income.

Though the report of ‘Doubling of Farmer’s Income’ (DFI) has recommended formation of seven thousand FPOs by 2022 towards convergence of efforts for doubling the farmers’ income, the Central Government announced the creation of 10 thousand new FPOs to ensure economies of scale for farmers over the next five years.

In the General Budget 2020-21, Union Government has proposed adopting a cluster approach for horticulture produce through the strategy of one district one product for promoting value addition, marketing and export. The Narendra Modi Government has launched a new dedicated Central Sector Scheme titled Formation and Promotion of Farmer Produce Organizations with clear strategy and committed resources to form and promote 10 thousand new FPOs.