Union Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway will be completed in the next three months, reducing the travel time to two hours. He also said that the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway will be completed in two months.
New expressway: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday that the construction of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway will be completed in the next three months. This is expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities to two hours, which is currently five to six hours. He said that the Delhi-Dehradun Highway Project has two packages. Gadkari said this while addressing the ‘Times Network India Economic Conclave-2024’. Regarding the construction of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway here, he said that it will be completed in 2 months.
With the completion of the expressway, the travel time between the two metropolises is expected to be reduced from the current 24 hours to 12 hours. The minister said that Gadkari said, “A project of Rs 10,000 crore has been approved for Kalindi Kunj in Delhi, which will extend to Faridabad. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to inaugurate this project within the next 15-20 days.”
Work continues to reduce air pollution
He said the Modi government is working to reduce air pollution, reduce imports of fossil fuels (coal, crude oil) and increase agricultural income. Gadkari said, “The Ministry of Transport is responsible for 40 percent of air pollution… while a large part of pollution is due to stubble burning in neighboring states – Punjab and Haryana. Road construction and fossil fuels also contribute to increasing the annual problem.”
Plan to deal with the problem of stubble
The minister said the problem of stubble burning will be solved in two years as the government is working on 400 projects that will convert 20 million tonnes of rice straw every year into alternative fuel. Gadkari said his ministry is working on 36 green express highways, which will help reduce logistics costs in the country.
Efforts to reduce road accidents
Regarding the increasing number of road accidents in India, Gadkari said that India ranks first in the world in terms of deaths due to these accidents. Every year, 1,78,000 deaths occur in five lakh accidents here. The reason for this is bad roads, poor implementation of law and lack of education and awareness. Gadkari admitted, “Despite hard work in the last 10 years, we have not been successful in reducing road accidents in the country.” The minister said that the recent steps taken by his ministry to improve all the ‘black spots’ (accident prone areas) on national highways, change in bidding norms for detailed project reports will help in reducing the number of accidents in the country.
