New Delhi: As per IANS-CVoter Issues That Dominated India 2021 Tracker, more than 40 kilometres per day of highway construction record was set in 2021 even as the pandemic raged on and the second wave brought India down to its knees.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari seems to have lost weight, but that hasn’t stopped him from creating new records in highway construction in the country. There was a time not very long ago when critics had scoffed at the needless grandeur and pomp displayed by the late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when he launched the Golden Quadrilateral project to link the four biggest cities of India with spanking new highways.
All that seems to be old fashioned now as Nitin Gadkari relentlessly pursues the path of creating world class highways all across the country. Highway construction has continued unabated despite Covid-induced lockdowns and restrictions.
According to Gadkari, special efforts have been made to sustain speed of highway construction during the Covid crisis such as providing support to contractors, direct payment to subcontractors, easing contract provisions and arranging food and medical supplies to on-site workers.
Along with welfare schemes, this would rate as one of the biggest achievements of this regime. As for Gadkari, he remains the only Union Minister consistently scoring more than 6 on a zero to ten scale among the voters. The older the respondent; the higher the ratings. There is no surprise there. The older people have seen the condition of Indian roads in the 20th century when even a 100 kilometre journey could take about 4 hours in a decent car. They don’t want their children and grandchildren to go back to that India ever again.
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Speaking during the laying of the foundation stone of bypass road at Jagadishpur, Babuganj, Unchahar, Allapur, the union minister said, “Rs 5 lakh crore will be invested in roads projects in Uttar Pradesh in the next 5 years if BJP comes to power again. I will make the roads of Uttar Pradesh as good as the roads of America.”
Gadkari also launched the first Intelligent Transport System (ITS) on 6 Lane Eastern Peripheral Expressway at Dasna, Ghaziabad.