Lucknow: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said the work on the BrahMos missile manufacturing site in Lucknow is likely to be completed by March next year. Singh was speaking in Gomti Nagar here on the second day of the tour of his parliamentary constituency.

“The work on BrahMos missile project is also going on at a fast pace and after next February-March, the missile manufacturing will begin on the soil of Lucknow,” the BJP leader said.

Developed by an India-Russia joint venture, the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile can be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or from land platforms.

The work on the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lab will also be completed soon, Singh said.

He said there were 11 other projects in Lucknow that have been undertaken. “Though they will take some time to complete, I can say that people will see a completely different Lucknow in the next few years,” the minister said.

During his visit in June, Singh had said that “everything from nuts and bolts to BrahMos missiles would be manufactured in the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (UPDIC)”. “We have created a conducive environment for defence manufacturing through the defence corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. UPDIC has told me that there is a plan to acquire about 1,700 hectares of land for this corridor, of which more than 95 per cent of the land has already been acquired,” he had said. According to a statement issued by the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday, the minister inspected the ongoing work of the Munshi Pulia Over Bridge being built at Khurram Nagar and Polytechnic intersection in Indira Nagar Sector 25 on the second day of his visit to his Lok Sabha constituency Lucknow.

He also inspected the ongoing work at Gomti Nagar railway station.

Singh said, “I am satisfied with the way the work is going on at Gomti Nagar Railway Station. It will be completed by December.”