Union Minister of Road, Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari on Monday laid foundation stones of 326.40 km long three national highways projects of four-laning worth Rs3018 crore in Haryana and announced road projects costing Rs25,000 crore in the state.
After laying the foundation stone at Ambala and Sirsa districts of the State, the Union Minister said by December 2015, national highways projects worth Rs25,000 crore would be taken up and eight national highways would be developed in Haryana alongwith three ring roads and one elevated highway.
Gadkari sanctioned eight new national highways that would pass through Haryana and said that ring roads would be constructed for Panchkula-Chandigarh and Mohali, Ambala City as well as Ambala Cantt. and Karnal. In addition, he announced three kms long elevated highway at Badshahpur in Gurgaon.
The Union Minister, who was accompanied by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal, Members of Parliament, Ministers and legislators, laid foundation stones of four laning projects of Yamunanagar-Saha-Barwala section of national highway no. 73 and of Ambala-Kaithal portion of national highway no. 65.
While speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister said after the formation of BJP Government at the Centre and in Haryana, out of the national highway projects involving an investment of Rs3.80 lakh crore, about 90 per cent of them have got impetus and national highway projects costing Rs16,000 crore were in progress.
He also announced to construct a new expressway connecting Haryana, Punjab as well as Jammu and Kashmir. Instructions have been issued to prepare a detailed project report for the same, said he.
The eight new national highways announced by the Union Minister included Bhiwani-Mundhal-Jind-Meerut, Hisar-Adampur-Mansa-Bathinda, Jind-Safidon-Panipat, Titram Mod Kaithal-Hisar-Rajgarh Rajasthan Border, Pehowa-Kurukshetra-Yamunanagar, Khangesra-Kala Amb, Yamunanagar-Paonta Sahib and Ambala-Saha-Shahbad.
Gadkari said that during the tenure of Congress Government, only a length of two kms of national highways used to be constructed per day, but now in the tenure of BJP, this rate of construction has increased to 14 km per day. The BJP has speeded up the construction of highways by seven times.
In next five years, national highway works costing Rs5 lakh crore would be undertaken and it would generate employment opportunities for 50 lakh youth, he added.
Appreciating ‘Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana’ initiated by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said that out of 6.5 lakh villages in the country, 1.70 lakh were connected under this scheme. Now, a maximum number of villages would be benefitted under the scheme.
While taking a dig at the ‘Garibi Hatao Slogan’ of the Congress, the Union Minister said that Congress leaders from Pt. Jawahar lal Nehru to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi gave the slogan and now Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is raising the same slogan. Although the Congress ruled the country for 65 years, yet during all these years the poverty of the people has not been alleviated.
He added that the country will have a medical hub, an education hub and a transport hub so as to give impetus to pace of development.
Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar said that that Gadkari is also known as ‘Flyover Minister’ and added that in days to come, the quality of roads in India would be similar to that of Paris, Japan and Canada.