Ready to release Rs 2L crore in a month for state’s road projects, says Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Thursday asserted that he was ready to release Rs 2 lakh crore from the Centre within a month to complete all pending road projects in the state, if the chief minister and his deputy take steps to hand over required land and give all clearances.

Gadkari’s statement assumes significance in the wake of a delegation of ministers led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar meeting him in Delhi last week, urging that the Centre speed up pending road and other infrastructure projects in the state.

The minister was addressing the valedictory the BJP’s special state executive committee meeting here,

Gadkari said that the Centre was committed to overall development of the country without prejudices.

“The BJP’s ideology itself is based on the concept of ‘Sarve Janaha Sukhino Bhavantu’. The projects that we launched in the last 10 years are testimony to this,” he said.

Ring road, expressway

The works on the Rs 17,000-crore ring road project that connects towns around Bengaluru are expected to be completed by December 2024 and it will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the minister said.

“Work on the Bengaluru-Chennai expressway is also nearing completion and is scheduled to be inaugurated by the PM in December,” he said.

River-linking project

Gadkari said when he was holding the Jal Shakti (water resources) portfolio as union minister earlier, he strove to implement the Godavari-Pennar-Krishna-Cauvery river-linking project, which could have resolved the water crisis in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

“Even the detailed project report was completed, but it was not pursued. I feel this is the most feasible river-linking project as nearly 1,300 tmc ft of water from Godavari goes into sea,” he said.