The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari said that his dream was to travel from Gangotri to Gangasagar by water, adding that this is not impossible. The Union Minister said this after inaugurating and unveiling the foundation stones for projects amounting to Rs 5,894 crore in Haridwar on Thursday.
Addressing the gathering on the occasion, the Union Minister stressed on developing rivers in Uttarakhand as waterways. He said that work should be undertaken on the possibilities of developing riverports. Considering both environmental factors and development, new concepts of transport should be considered in Uttarakhand. He also said that the state can be developed in to a hub of biofuel for aviation. More work will have to be done on waste to wealth concept, he stressed.
The projects inaugurated by Gadkari included six newly constructed sewage treatment plants (STPs) along with 18 pumping stations across the state of Uttarakhand under National Mission for Clean Ganga. The projects were inaugurated at Chandi Ghat which is among the 36 Ghats on which work has been completed under the mission. The STPs and Ghats are part of 48 projects in the field of sewerage management, Ghats and crematoria works, river front development works, afforestation, bio-remediation, rural sanitation and river surface cleaning works at the cost of Rs 1354.33 crore which are at different stages of implementation.
The Union minister also laid the foundation stones for seven national highway projects worth Rs 5555 crore. These include work for preparing detailed project report for construction of ring road in Haridwar, balance work of Haridwar-Dehradun National Highway among others in the mountain state.
Speaking on the occasion Gadkari also announced river rejuvenation plans for Banganga and Solani rivers. He inaugurated Iqbalpur canal works which will irrigate 33,000 hectare farmlands.
While releasing the books ‘The Making of Chandi Ghat’ and ‘Ghats in Uttarakhand’ he said that the 700 metre long Chandi Ghat can accommodate 10,000 people at a time.
He further said that the projects for constructing ring roads in Dehradun and Haldwani were under consideration.
He exhorted the state government to convert waste into wealth and use bio-fuels in transportation. Gadkari said that once completed the Char Dham highway development project will mean all weather connectivity from Rishikesh to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. This project covers a total route length of 900 kilometres covering the state of Uttarakhand at an estimated cost of about Rs 12,000 crore.
Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that works under Namami Gange and national highway projects are being executed at a swift pace in Uttarakhand. Work on the Dehradun-Mussoorie ropeway will also be started in the near future. Further, plans are being drafted for construction of ropeways at Neelkanth, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Mukteshwar.
Union minister of State, Satyapal Singh, cabinet ministers Madan Kaushik, Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, BJP State president Ajay Bhatt and others were present on the occasion.