Nitin Gadkari has said sorry to the people of Madhya Pradesh for poor construction of a highway in the state and ordered a new contract to be made out.
“I am not satisfied with the 63km two-lane road being built from Barela (Jabalpur) to Mandla at a cost of Rs 400 crore. If a mistake has been made, an apology is in order. Officials have been told to suspend the work that is pending and repair what has been done. Invite a new tender. I apologize for the trouble I have caused you so far,” Gadkari said in Jabalpur, where he laid the foundation stone of 13 projects of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
Gadkari and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of eight road projects of 214km, estimated at Rs 4,054 crore.
Gadkari said he will give Madhya Pradesh roads worth Rs 6 lakh crore during his tenure and urged the state government to speed up land acquisition and forest clearance. Good roads are a must for development, the Union minister said in his address
CM Chouhan said that state government is making relentless efforts to lay a road network across MP and thanked PM Modi and Gadkari for approving five new road projects in Mandla and Dindori. Since 2003, the MP government has built over 3 lakh km roads, he said, adding that there is a proposal to build a Narmada Expressway from the origin of Narmada to Dhar-Jhabua. Efforts will be made to develop industrial areas, based on local products, on both sides, he said.
Good roads are a must for development, the Union minister said in his address, recalling that former US President John F Kennedy had said USA is an affluent country because it has good roads.
“This is why my department is trying to create a network of roads all across the country,” he said, adding that money isn’t a hurdle in India’s development if there is a will to make it happen.
The Union minister narrated how the NHAI bond was “oversubscribed 10 times”. “Poor people invested in NHAI bonds. I’ll give them 8% returns and monthly interest to senior citizens. We will build Hindustan’s infrastructure with poor people’s investment,” he said.
Gadkari advised the state government to beware of the practice where people buy up land alongside ring roads and mint money. “Some people make money from it. The state should acquire the land and build a logistics hub, smart cities and industrial parks alongside,” he said, adding that he has accepted the MP government’s proposal for two logistics parks.
Gadkari asked Chouhan to send an officer to study the Nagpur Metro model. “The railways is calling it ‘Nitin Gadkari Metro’. The Metro being built in Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur is capital intensive, he said, adding that the Nagpur Metro costs only Rs 2 crore per km. He suggested similar metros from Jabalpur to Bhopal and Itarsi.
Chouhan urged Gadkari to build a light metro between Nagpur and Indore. “Indore aur Nagpur mein dil ka rishta hai (Indore and Nagpur are connected by heart),” he said.
Gadkari accepted CM Chouhan’s suggestion to convert the access road to Kanha National Park into a national highway. “Kanha is famous the world over, and better connectivity to the park will be ensured. Development of tribal areas, which are socially, economic and educationally backward, is a priority for both the central and state governments,” Gadkari said.
“There is deep religious significance of Narmada Parikrama and a Narmada highway is a must for this,” the Union minister said.
Gadkari lauded Chouhan for starting medical and engineering courses in Hindi and recalled how he couldn’t study engineering because he got 49% in his exams, 1% lower than the cutoff. “Today, I have six world records in engineering and three DLitts,” he said, adding that he gets Rs 3 lakh from YouTube.
