Opposition leaders from across the political spectrum on Monday hailed the work of Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari but at the same time also flagged concerns on certain aspects like quality of roads, their maintenance and alleged transparency deficit in toll collection.
Participating in the discussion on the 'demand for grants of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways' for 2022-23 in Lok Sabha, most MPs, both from Opposition and treasury benches, began their address by lauding the work done by Gadkari in the road transport sector, especially his hands-on approach.
A number of Opposition MPs also flagged issues of concern and called for speeding up of ongoing projects.
CPI(M) MP from Kerala A M Ariff thanked Gadkari for the development of national highways in Kerala in a time-bound manner.
Underlining that road transport has an important role in employment generation, Ariff alleged that this government is adopting an approach of excessively relying on the private sector for the development of roads.
He also claimed that private companies are “looting” the people for years and years and there is no transparency in the amount collected as tolls.
"As per the agreement made by the NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) with the private players, after the construction cost is recovered the toll rates are to be reduced to 40 per cent. But what is happening that rates are hiked every now and then on the whims and fancies of private players, and NHAI and central government remaining mute spectators," Ariff said and demanded a white paper on the toll collected so far as part of various projects in the country./
BSP MP Danish Ali also praised the ministry, saying it has done a lot of good work in recent years.
"Personally, I would like to compliment ministers of this ministry for the good work they have done all these years," he said. However, Ali expressed concern over the issue of the about Rs 3,38,000 crore debt of the NHAI and wondered how that will be overcome.
The fund allocation has gone up three times but the speed of highway construction does not match that, Ali said.
National Conference MP Hasnain Masoodi praised Gadkari for his work but flagged concern over the quality of roads being constructed.
While objecting to the absence of Gadkari during the discussion on demands for grants for his ministry, RSP’s N K Premachandran noted that Gadkari is doing a good job. Parliamentary ethics demanded that the Minister who was seeking approval of Lok Sabha for spending Rs 1.9 lakh crore during 2022-23 should be present in the House, he added.
Congress Lok Sabha member M K Vishnu Prasad said the previous UPA governments laid the foundation of developing road connectivity in the country, which has led to its road network becoming the second largest globally.
Congress MP from Himachal Pradesh Pratibha Singh flagged the issue of the need for an efficient road network in the hill state to boost its economic development and lamented the slow pace of four-laning of highways in her state.