Opposition leaders in the Lok Sabha on Monday praised the work of Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari while participating in the debate on Demand for Grants for the Transport Ministry but flagged some concerns over the quality of roads, maintenance and the alleged lack of transparency in toll collection.
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Some members, including BJP member from Arunachal Pradesh Tapir Gao and Darjeeling representative Raju Bista, urged the government to speed up the construction of border roads in the northeastern States, including an alternative highway from Siliguri to Darjeeling.
Revolutionary Socialist Party’s N.K. Premachandran objected to the absence of Mr. Gadkari during the discussion on demands for grants for his Ministry. He noted that Mr. Gadkari was doing a good job but pointed out that parliamentary ethics demanded that the Minister, who was seeking the Lok Sabha’s approval for spending ₹1.9 lakh crore during 2022-23, should be present.
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Issues of quality
Opposition members like Danish Ali (BSP), A.M. Ariff (CPI-M) and Hasnain Masoodi (National Conference) were among those who lauded the Minister but flagged issues of quality, mismatch between the budget allocated for the Ministry and pace of road construction, reliance on the private sector and the lack of transparency regarding toll collection.
Mr. Gao highlighted the importance of the frontier highways in Arunachal Pradesh that share border with China. He claimed that top car companies, including Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes and Lamborghini, now participate in car rallies because of good roads in the State.
Mr. Bista urged the Centre to speed up construction of a bridge to replace the 100-year-old Coronation Bridge, which is an important link between north Bengal and the northeast.
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Chicken’s Neck
The Coronation Bridge is located in the narrow 22-km corridor known as the Chicken’s Neck, which has Bangladesh on one side and Nepal on the other, making it strategically very important.
“There is a need to speed up road construction in the border region,” Mr. Bista said, noting that north Bengal and Sikkim region was crucial as it shared borders with China, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Congress’s M.K. Vishnu Prasad observed that the previous UPA governments laid the foundation of developing road connectivity in the country, which had led to its road network becoming the second largest globally.
“The treasury benches are very proud of the 63.5 lakh km of road coverage, which is the second longest globally after the US. But this expansion did not happen overnight. It was the previous Congress governments under [Jawaharlal] Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, which laid the foundation and that is why today India has the second largest road network,” he said.