The Centre on Thursday approved alignment of the 550-km stretch National Highway (NH) that would connect Digha in West Bengal with Gopalpur in Odisha.
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram announced this after meeting Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi.
Pradhan said a declaration was made regarding construction of the coastal highway a year back. Approval of the alignment has paved the way for preparation of a detailed project report (DPR) after discussion with the State Government, he said. With this, total 1800 km of new NHs have been announced post Modi-Government, the Minister added.
He further said, “While total 2,000 km NH had been constructed in Odisha during the ruling of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Gadkari has approved the demand for construction additional 2500 km NH.” Pradhan further pointed out that construction of record 6,000 km NH would be completed under both the NDA Governments; whereas only 1,000 km NH had been constructed during UPA-I and UPA-II Government.
Besides, both Pradhan and Oram requested Gadkari for construction of additional 1,000-1,500 km stretch in the State. Gadkari assured them to take steps in this regard.