Centre spending Rs 50,000 cr on projects in Haryana: Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said that the Central Government is spending Rs 50,000 crore on various projects in Haryana to further improve road infrastructure in the state.
The union minister for road, transport and highways, while addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of the Pinjore bypass project from National Highway-22 to 21 A here in Panchkula district, said his ministry would accept all demands of Haryana.
The length of the national highways in the state would be doubled as the Union Government has fast-tracked the decision-making process for all infrastructure projects, he said.
Gadkari made several important announcements on the occasion including three new underpasses on NH-22 in Panchkula at a cost of Rs 170 crore.

Some of the other announcements made by Gadkari include an elevated flyover that would be built on NH-2 (Delhi-Agra) from Agra Chowk to Delhi Chowk in Palwal town, Sohna bypass on NH-71B, eastern bypass for Karnal subject to the condition that 50 per cent land cost will be shared by state.
He declared the Khangsara-Kala Amb stretch as National Highway as well as four-laning of the road from Yamunanagar to Paonta Sahib.

He urged the state government to help in land acquisition for the Delhi-Yamunanagar Expressway which would link Haryana, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.
"This will boost tourism and generate employment opportunities. With a view to bringing down the pollution level, the Union Government will promote electric taxis in Haryana," he said.

The government is making efforts to further increase the pace of road construction to 40 km per day from the current 23 km per day by March 2018, he said.
The average road construction was 23 km per day in March 2017 against only 2 km per day during the Congress regime, he said.
Gadkari said 65 per cent work on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway, which was being constructed at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore, had already been completed.
It would be dedicated to the people by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15.
The expressway will help divert traffic coming from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir which currently passes through Delhi, he said.

Speaking on this occasion, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that prior to October 2014, there were about 1,470 km long National Highways in the state which had increased to 2,480 km in 2017. After completion of the ongoing works on recent announcements, this figure would reach to 3,200 km.
The present government has got completed construction of 24 bridges and work is in progress on 21 others, he said.