New Delhi, April 16: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Delhi-Dasna portion of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway on April 29.

Announcing the construction of a new highway alignment between Delhi and Mumbai, at an estimated cost of Rs 1 lakh crore, Gadkari also revealed a plan for "Chambal Expressway", which would be connected to the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

"The Minister also disclosed plans for a Chambal Expressway which would be connected to Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and is likely to benefit states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where the backward areas will also shine like Gurugram," a ministry statement said.

Gadkari said that the Delhi-Meerut Expressway was envisaged to ease traffic and air pollution in east Delhi.

"About 40,000 commercial vehicles enter Delhi on a daily basis, which causes increased pollution and congestion... Scheme of developing Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways around Delhi was taken up, and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 29th of this month," Gadkari said.

Gadkari also informed that a Rs 260-crore contract for constructing a signal-free corridor from Dhaula Kuan to the airport had already been awarded.

The Minister said that an eight-lane fully access-controlled Dwarka Expressway is being developed in four packages at an investment of Rs 9,500 crore. Three packages have already been awarded and the work on the expressway is likely to start in a month's time.

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New Delhi, May 6 (PTI): The Indian Air Force will carry out a two-day mega military exercise along the border with Pakistan from Wednesday that will involve all the frontline fighter jets including Rafale, Su-30 and Jaguar aircraft, sources in the defence establishment said on Tuesday.

The exercise is taking place amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan over the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people.

India's civil aviation authorities have already issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) for the major air exercise that will largely take place along the southern and western section of the Indo-Pakistan border.

India's frontline fighter jets including the Rafale, Su-30 MKI, MiG-29, Mirage-2000, Tejas and AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) aircraft are set to feature in the exercise, the sources said.

In the course of the exercise, the IAF will simulate enemy targets on ground and in the air with deadly precision, they said.

The militaries of both India and Pakistan are on a high alert following rising tensions between the two nations.

Soon after the Pahalgam terror attack, India, citing "cross-border linkages" to the strike, promised severe punishment to those involved in it.

In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass on April 29, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the armed forces have "complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India's response to the terror attack.

Air Chief Marshal A P Singh met Prime Minister Modi on Sunday and the Chief of Air Staff briefed him about the IAF's operational readiness.

On Saturday, Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi apprised the prime minister on the overall situation in the critical sea lanes in the Arabian Sea.