Infrastructure push key achievement of PM Modi rule: MoS Harsh Malhotra
In an interview with Parvez Sultan, Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Harsh Malhotra spoke about challenges, milestones, and the vision shaping India's infrastructure journey.
Excerpts:
What are the key milestones in infrastructure development during Narendra Modi's tenure as Prime Minister in the last 11 years?
India's highway infrastructure has seen remarkable growth over the past 11 years. Before 2014, the country had 92,000 km of highways, with construction progressing at 12 km per day. Today, that pace has more than doubled to 28 km per day, and during COVID, it touched 34 km per day. Since 2014, 58,000 km of new highways have been built.
Under the PM Gram Sadak Yojana, aimed at connecting villages to cities, 3.5 lakh km of rural roads have been constructed. Every rupee spent on roads boosts GDP by 3.2 percent, and over the past five years, road infrastructure projects have generated 650 crore man-days of employment.
Major expressways such as the Delhi-Mumbai Corridor, Delhi-Amritsar-Katra, and the nearly complete Delhi-Dehradun Expressway are transforming travel; cutting the Delhi-Dehradun journey to just 2.5 hours. A spur from Saharanpur to Haridwar and bypasses for Rishikesh toward Kedarnath and Badrinath are also underway.
The government is building all-weather roads to the Char Dham and has completed a route to Kailash Mansarovar via Pithoragarh. Connectivity is also being strengthened to key religious cities—Ayodhya, Varanasi, Chitrakoot, and Prayagraj—with a major road underway between Ayodhya and Gorakhpur.
Why has the Char Dham all-weather connectivity project been delayed?
There is no delay in the Char Dham project. The region faces extreme weather and difficult terrain, with frequent rain, cloudbursts, and landslides. Roads are built but often get damaged due to natural calamities. Despite these challenges, work is progressing continuously. Wherever damage occurs, repairs are promptly undertaken, and durable concrete roads are being constructed to withstand future disruptions.
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