Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari has said that he would give sanction to the revised estimate for two flyovers in Hubballi-Dharwad if the State brought down the cost to around ₹ 650 crore.
He was responding to the public felicitation accorded to him by Bharatiya Janata Party at Nehru Stadium in Hubballi on Tuesday night for having given ‘maximum’ funds to Karnataka and Dharwad district in particular for road development.
Responding to the plea by MP Pralhad Joshi on the flyover project, Mr. Gadkari said: “During my earlier visit to Hubballi I had sanctioned two flyovers projects to Hubballi-Dharwad, thinking that they would cost around ₹ 150 crore each and subsequently budgetary allocation was also made. However the State government has submitted a Detailed Project Report (DPR) seeking ₹ 1,300 crore for the two flyovers. I have already told the State government to bring down the cost by reducing the distance of the elevated road. If they bring down the cost to ₹ 650 crore, I will give approval and also come to Hubballi to perform bhoomi puja.”
Clarifying that there was no dearth of funds for development works in the country, Mr. Gadkari recalled how funds were raised through National Stock Exchange for infrastructure projects. “There is only dearth of people who want to work, but no dearth of funds. So far I have initiated infrastructure works worth Rs. 8.50 lakh crore”, he said.
‘Congress root cause’
Mr. Gadkari said “Our country has not progressed due to wrong economic policies, bad and corrupt governance and visionless leadership. Congress party, with its dynastic rule, is the root cause for all the problems in the country.”
On the ‘Garibhi Hatao’ slogan of Congress party, Mr. Gadkari said while Jawaharlal Nehru gave the slogan, it was subsequently continued by his daughter Indira Gandhi and his grandson Rajiv Gandhi. Now his great grandson Rahul Gandhi will continue. “After all these years of Congress rule, only Congress leaders and their followers have come out of poverty”, he said.
Referring to the kind of funds being given to Karnataka, he appealed to the crowd to vote for BJP in the forthcoming Assembly election so that development would get expedited. “Under Narendra Modi-led BJP, double engines will be attached to the train of progress”, he said.
Union Minister for Chemicals, Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar spoke on how the length of National Highways in Karnataka had increased under Mr. Gadkari.
Leader of Opposition in Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar and Member of Parliament from Dharwad Pralhad Joshi elaborated on how ‘generous’ Mr. Gadkari had been in sanctioning projects for Karnataka under the Central Road Fund (CRF) and thanked him profusely.
A host of BJP leaders were present at the programme which began over two hours behind schedule. The organisers had to repeatedly ask the public not to leave. Having waited for hours many had left when Mr. Gadkari arrived.
Foundation
Before the felicitation Mr. Gadkari visited Gabbur on the outskirts of Hubballi to initiate work on expansion of four-lane national highway (No.4) between Hubballi and Chitradurga into six lanes at a cost of Rs. 3,811 crore and national highway development works worth Rs. 382 crore. He also symbolically inaugurated the Yamanur bridge built at a cost of Rs. 37 crore.
