In the border areas near China in the Northeast, India has spent Rs. 3 lakh crore is being invested in roads and highway infrastructure, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday. The comments come in the backdrop of a recent face-off between Indian and Chinese troops in the Tawang sector on the Arunachal Pradesh border.
“This is an important matter. Works are in progress. Be it Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya or Tripura we build roads and highways. Ask any taxi driver there and they will tell you,” said Nitin Gadkari on Express Ada. Minister Nitin Gadkari responded to a question on whether India was building border roads in the light of “imbalances” in bilateral relations with China over the past two years.
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Nitin Gadkari said that strategic connectivity projects are coming up in all border areas to connect them with the national highway network. In Kashmir, I am building tunnels worth Rs 60,000 crore. Can you imagine? I am constructing four tunnels from Manali to Rohtang. From Ladakh to Srinagar… I will connect it to Katra and then to Amritsar and Delhi,” said Nitin Gadkari.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari interacted with Anand Goenka, Executive Director, Indian Express Group, and Vandita Mishra, National Opinion Editor, The Indian Express.
Nitin Gadkari said that he has asked the states to increase the speed limit on national highways to 140 kmph on eight-lane expressways and 120 kmph on six-lane roads and has also asked his ministry to frame operating rules for trucks and buses on the roads.
Talking about road safety, Nitin Gadkari said that he is very interested in reducing accidents. “60 per cent of those who die in accidents are between the ages of 18 and 24. Many people don’t die in wars and covids. For that reason, two-wheelers cannot be allowed on the expressway,” said Nitin Gadkari. Nitin Gadkari said he was not in favor of scrapping old vehicles on the proposed vehicle scrap policy.
Nitin Gadkari said the nationwide highway network envisioned during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA regime is coming to life. “I am building 27 greenfield expressways like Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Deradun… These are new roads. All these will boost the development of backward areas,” said Nitin Gadkari.
In a casual conversation on infrastructure, economics and politics, Nitin Gadkari said he wanted to build highway infrastructure with funds invested by the country’s poor, not money from abroad, so that the poor would benefit.
“I give them 8 per cent return on Invid Fund. If I take foreign funds in dollars, the fluctuation in the value of the dollar against the rupee is a big problem. Besides, I have to get a guarantee from the Ministry of Finance (Sovereignty). I don’t want to get involved in such complicated issues,” said Nitin Gadkari.
“When people come to me with proposals for funding, I ask, do you need a guarantee from the Ministry of Finance? If they say yes, I say thank you and please drink your tea and leave,” he said.
Nitin Gadkari, who is spearheading the government’s ambitious plans to provide massive road infrastructure, said India’s roads will be as good as those in the US by the end of 2024.
“The way we are working… my aspiration is that by the end of 2024, from Bihar to the Northeast and elsewhere, the road infrastructure will be as good as the US. “Only 20 percent of what we are working on is known now, and the remaining 80 percent is work in progress,” said Nitin Gadkari.
Nitin Gadkari, who spoke about employment generation through infrastructure projects, called for public-private partnerships. “I am building roads worth Rs 5 lakh crore, whereas my budget is Rs 2 lakh crore. Take what comes from the public-private pool and give it (infrastructure) to the poor for free,” Nitin Gadkari said.
Asked whether there is concentration of power in politics and business in India, Nitin Gadkari said political parties are like a bicycle and their leadership is a “valve”. “Every party is a combination of three things: ideology, organization and leadership. It’s like a cycle. A cycle consists of a tire, tube and valve. Leadership is like a valve. If the valve is not right, the tire loses air and the cycle stops,” said former BJP national president Nitin Gadkari.
“Anything can happen in cricket and politics,” Nitin Gadkari said when asked if the trend of “almost one-party assemblies” as seen in Delhi and recently in Gujarat would continue.
Nitin Gadkari narrated the story of the cricket match. “Once, I was watching an India match with the late Pramod Mahajan at a stadium. At the tea break, the wickets of the Indian team fell and the game was lost. Pramodji left the match thinking that India would now lose. I was there. You won’t believe, after his exit, the match changed and India won. So no one can say why one succeeds or fails. It is the right of the Janata (people). Whatever the Janata dictates, we have to accept,” Nitin Gadkari said.
Responding to another question on his views on Congress President Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, Nitin Gadkari said he did not see it fully.
Express Ada is a series of informal conversations organized by the Indian Express team and features those at the heart of change. Union External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Election Strategist Prashant Kishore and Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav have been previous guests at Ada.
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