Harayana will see a spurt in highway development activity with the Centre proposing to roll out national highways worth Rs 2 lakh crore for the state in two years. Inaugurating three national highway projects and laying foundation stone for eight others worth over Rs 20,000 crore, minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said more is in store for the state in the coming days.
“Whatever highway development work has taken place in the state is just a trailer, baki movie abhi baki hai (the rest of the movie is still to be out),” he said. Gadkari requested Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar to expedite land acquisition for national highway projects in the state. In 2014, total national highway length in Haryana was 2,050 km, which has now been brought up to 3,237 km. The existing national highway density of the state at 75 km per 1,000 sq km is the highest among major states of the country.
The projects inaugurated include the 35.45 km 4-lane Rohna/Hasangarh to Jhajjar section of NH 334B costing Rs 1,183 crore, the 70 km 4-laning of Punjab-Haryana Border to Jind section of NH 71 costing Rs 857 crore, and the 85.36 km 2-lane with paved shoulders Jind-Karnal Highway on NH 709 costing Rs 200 crore.
Foundation stones were laid for projects including the 227 km 6-lane access controlled Greenfield expressway from Ismailpur to Narnaul on NH 152D in 8 packages costing Rs 8,650 crore, the 46 km 4-lane Gurugram Pataudi-Rewari section of NH 352W costing Rs 1,524 crore and the 14.4 km 4-lane Rewari bypass costing Rs 928 crore.
Foundation stone also laid for the 30.45 km 4-lane Rewari-Ateli Mandi section of NH 11 costing Rs 1,057 crore, the 40.8 km 6-lane Narnaul bypass on NH 148B, NH 11 and Narnaul to Ateli Mandi section of NH 11 costing Rs 1,380 crore, the 40.6 km 4-lane Jind-Gohana of NH 352A costing Rs 1,207 crore, the 38.23 km 4-lane Gohana-Sonipat section of NH 352A costing Rs 1,502 crore, and the 40.47 km 4-lane UP-Haryana Border to Roha on NH 334B costing Rs 1,509 crore.
Gadkari said these projects will benefit people of Haryana in a big way by providing smooth connectivity within the state, as well as to other states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. These will also decongest big cities, reducing travel time.
