The much-awaited Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME), the country’s longest, linking the national and the financial capital, will be completed soon, President Ram Nath Kovind said while delivering his address to a joint session of Parliament on January 31.
The Budget Session of Parliament began with the President's address on Monday. Kovind said the country now has a network of more than 1.40 lakh km of national highways as against 90,000 km in March 2014.
The government has also approved 21 greenfield airports in the country, he said. “Eleven new metro rail lines have started which are benefiting lakhs of passengers across eight states.”
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The President began his address, lauding the COVID-19 vaccination programme. “We have administered 150 crore doses of COVID vaccines in a record time. More than 70 percent beneficiaries have received the second dose of the vaccine,” he said.
He talked about various initiatives of the government. “Over six crore rural households getting tap water under 'Har Ghar Jal' initiative. More than 11 crore farmer families received Rs 1.80 lakh crore through PM-KISAN,” he pointed out.
“Priority has been given to ‘Make in India’ in defence contracts. As a result, 209 items used by the armed forces will not be imported,” he said.
He also talked about India’s target of Net Zero emissions by 2070 under its commitment to deal with climate change.
Talking about the electrification of Railway route, he said that in last seven years, 24,000 km of railway route have been electrified.
Here are the key things to know about Delhi-Mumbai Expressway:
- The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is likely to be completed by March 2023 and is being built as part of the first phase of the 'Bharatmala Pariyojana'.
- Delhi-Mumbai Expressway was kick started in 2018 with the foundation stone being laid on March 9, 2019.
- The eight-lane expressway, covering Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, is expected to halve the commute time between the national capital and the country's financial hub from nearly 24 hours to 12 hours, as per an official statement.
- This will generate annual fuel savings of more than 320 million liters and reduce CO2 emissions by 850 million kg which is equivalent to the planting of 40 million trees, the statement said.
- The expressway is the first in Asia and only the second in the world to feature animal overpasses to facilitate unrestricted movement of wildlife, as per the statement.
- The DME will have three animal and five overpasses with a combined length of seven km dedicated for unencumbered wildlife movement.
- The expressway will also include two iconic 8 lane tunnels, one tunneling through Mukundra sanctuary without disturbing the endangered fauna in the region for 4 km and the second 4-km eight-lane-tunnel will pass through the Matheran eco-sensitive zone.
