LUCKNOW: It will soon be possible to take a chopper ride to Mathura, Varanasi, Agra and Allahabad. The UP cabinet on Tuesday cleared various proposals for land acquisition and free land transfer for setting up of heliports, helipads and airstrips in these cities which, it hopes, will boost tourism there. The routes and connecting cities are yet to be finalised though.The proposed heliport for Agra will be located close to the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. The government has identified 2.27 hectare land belonging to UP Expressways Industrial Development Authority which will be acquired for free. For neighbouring land that will be acquired, the tourism department will pay approximately Rs 1 crore.For Mathura, land has been identified in Paintha village in Govardhan tehsil. The tourism department will get land from the revenue department free of cost. For the heliport in Varanasi, land has been identified in Domri while the heliport for Allahabad will be located at Gramsarai Mauj. The tourism department has sanctioned Rs 24.7 crore for the entire project.The cabinet also cleared a proposal for setting up of a special planning authority for the development of the integrated industrial township in Greater Noida as part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.The cabinet also cleared the selection of developers for setting up nine solar power projects with a total capacity of 550 MW. The tariff for this power has been fixed at Rs 3.02-Rs 3.08 per KW.Amendments have also been made to the UP Molasses Control (Third Amendment) Bill, 2018, to improve export compliance. According to this, anyone who wants to export molasses needs to be registered and hold a licence to do so.

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