By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said his government has expanded the UDAN scheme to construct 100 new airports and 200 new helipads with an investment of Rs 29000 crore in smaller cities to boost development in India.
Uttar Pradesh will also benefit immensely from the expansion move, Modi said inaugurating the first phase of the Noida International Airport. UP Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi was also present along with several other dignitaries and leaders.
Underscoring the unprecedented investment in modern infrastructure for a Viksit Bharat, the Prime Minister said over the past eleven years, the infrastructure budget has been increased more than six-fold, with Rs 17 lakh crore spent on highways and expressways and over one lakh kilometres of highways constructed.
He noted that railway electrification has expanded from 20,000 kilometres before 2014 to over 40,000 kilometres since then, with nearly 100 per cent of the broad-gauge network now electrified.
The Prime Minister highlighted that for the first time, the Kashmir Valley and the capitals of the North-East are being connected to the rail network, while port capacity has more than doubled in the past decade and the number of inland waterways continues to grow. “India is working at a rapid pace in every sector necessary for building a Viksit Bharat,” said Modi.