Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and MSMEs Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday inaugurated and laid foundation stone for 11 highway projects worth ₹20,027 crore in Haryana through a web-based function.
Mr. Gadkari laid the foundation stone for eight road projects at a cost of ₹17,787 crore. The projects include 227 km six-lane access-controlled Greenfield Expressway from Ismailpur to Narnaul on NH-152D in eight packages costing ₹8,650 crore, 46.11 km four-lane Gurugram-Pataudi-Rewari section of NH-352W for ₹1,524 crore, 14.4 km four-lane Rewari by-pass costing ₹928 crore and 30.45 km four-lane Rewari-Ateli Mandi section of NH-11 for ₹1,057 crore.
The Union Minister also inaugurated three big road projects worth ₹2,240 crore — 35.45 km four-lane Rohna/Hasangarh-Jhajjar section of NH-334B costing ₹1,183 crore; 70 km four-laning of Punjab-Haryana border to Jind section of NH-71 for ₹857 crore and the 85.36 km two-lane with paved shoulders Jind-Karnal Highway on NH-709 costing ₹200 crore.
New vistas
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Gadkari said National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would spend ₹2 lakh crore on the construction of new roads in Haryana in the next two years.
He said the highway projects worth ₹20,027 crore, which he dedicated to the people of Haryana, would open new vistas of development in the State and provide better road connectivity to the western part of the country and also neighbouring States of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
He said that apart from these road projects, the 687-km-long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway passing through Jind in Haryana would benefit Haryana and give boost to the State’s economy.
The Union Minister also urged Chief Minister Mahohar Lal to develop new industrial clusters along the Delhi-Mumbai Corridor and said that Centre was ready to give all support to Haryana in this work.
SYL Canal row
Expressing gratitude to Mr. Gadkari for dedicating various highway projects, Mr. Lal sought his intervention in resolving the long-pending issue with Punjab regarding Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal so that Haryana could get its legitimate share of river water.
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda said that four-lane Rohna/Hasangarh-Jhajjar section of NH-334B and four-laning of Punjab-Haryana border to Jind section of NH-71 were approved during the UPA government in 2013 and 2014.
