Better road network key to growth, says Gadkari

Chandigarh: Asserting that better road network is key to development, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said the BJP-led government at the Centre has been taking steps to improve road connectivity across the country.

Gadkari said that the road network is getting strengthened rapidly which is also helping generate new avenues of employment.

The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways was speaking at the inauguration of five national highway (NH) projects — having a road length of 297km and a completion cost of Rs 2,872 crore — in Haryana’s Sonipat.

According to an official statement here, Gadkari inaugurated Jind-Gohana NH-352A built at a cost of Rs 132 crore, Bhiwani-Mundhal-Jind NH-709A at Rs 183 crore, Jhajjar-Loharu NH-334B at Rs 136.25 crore, UP/Haryana border to Gohana NH-334B at Rs 1,020 crore, and Mukarba Chowk to Panipat NH-44 constructed at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore.

Better road network is key to development, Gadkari said.

He also said for development four things are important. “Water, power, transport and communication — and where these four things are, there are industry, employment and growth there,” he said.

Pointing out how good roads bring progress, Gadkari said former United States President John F Kennedy had once said, “American roads are not good because America is rich, but America is rich because American roads are good”.

The Union minister cited an example of the Delhi-Meerut highway and said with its completion, travel time, which used to be four-and-a-half hours earlier, has now reduced to 40 minutes.

Gadkari said after completion of the Delhi-Amritsar road project, travel time between the two cities will be reduced to four hours, Delhi-Katra journey will be six hours, and Delhi to Srinagar will be covered in eight hours. Delhi-Chandigarh journey will soon be completed in two hours, he said, adding that many of those travelling by air will opt for road journey after travel time is cut drastically.

Gadkari also talked about several other projects and said the Asia’s biggest tunnel is being built in Zojila in J&K.

On the demand of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to start pod taxis in the state, Gadkari said that his department is working on it.

We will start pod taxi service from Delhi to Sonipat and Panipat for 250 people, and for this the Haryana government should send a proposal to the Centre, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Khattar said that Gadkari always works on new technology. The chief minister said that the central government had announced 17 national highways for Haryana, of which at least 12 have been completed.

Union Minister of State V K Singh, Haryana’s Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, and Sonipat MP Ramesh Chander Kaushik were also present at the event.

Earlier, while inaugurating the Indradhanush Auditorium at GVM Mahila College, Sonipat, Khattar reiterated that girls of those families earning up to Rs 1.80 lakh annually will be given free education till post graduation.

“Daughters of such families can either take education from private educational institutions or from government centres,” he said.

Khattar said that the government has set up one college at every 20km in the state so that girl students do not have to travel far for pursuing higher education.