Nitin Gadkari dismisses reports of 'quitting politics', calls out media

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday dismissed the claims of getting retired from politics.

The senior BJP leader made the statement while referring to a media report.

"I have no intention of retiring from politics," the senior BJP leader said while speaking to media in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri.

"The media must uphold responsible journalism in their reporting on this matter," he added.

Earlier on Thursday, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also conducted an aerial inspection of the construction work of the Mumbai-Goa highway.

Industries Minister of Maharashtra Uday Samant was also present on occasion, said a press release on Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Union Minister Gadkari said that the much-awaited construction work of Mumbai-Goa National Highway No 66 would be completed by December 2023 and the road will be open for traffic in January 2024.

He further said that the Mumbai-Goa highway has been divided into 10 packages. Out of these, two packages (P-9, P-10) in the Sindhudurg district are almost 99 per cent complete, an official release said.

There are a total of five packages in the Ratnagiri district and 92 per cent and 98 per cent work of two of these packages (P-4, P-8) has been completed respectively.

The rest of the work is in progress. The delayed works for two packages (P-6, P-7) have been resumed by appointing a new contractor, informed the Minister.

"Out of the three packages in the Raigad district, two packages (P-2, P-3) have been completed up to 93 per cent and 82 per cent respectively. More than half of the work on the package (P-1) has been completed and the remaining work will be completed soon," he added.

The Road Transport and Highways Minister further said that land acquisition and environmental clearances for the Panvel-Indapur phase had delayed the work on the Mumbai-Goa National Highway.

He said that now all these hurdles have been cleared and the environmental issue is being taken care of by removing the flyover in the Karnala sanctuary area.

The Minister informed that the construction work in Goa of the Mumbai-Goa National Highway has been completed. The Mumbai-Goa National Highway is a highway connecting major tourist destinations in Konkan. This will boost tourism development. Also, as there is a road connecting major industrial areas, industrial development will also get a boost, said the Minister.

The minister also announced three new projects worth Rs 15 thousand crores. These include the Rs. 1,200 crore Kalamboli Junction project, the Rs. 1,200 crore Pagode Junction Chowk to Greenfield Highway project and the Rs. 13,000 crore Morbe - Karanjade highway connecting Delhi via JNPA. The work on these projects will start soon.

On Thursday morning, the Minister laid the foundation stone of three national highway projects worth Rs. 414.68 crores and 63,900 km long at Palaspe village in Raigad district. These projects will boost economic dynamism at the two ports of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority and Dighi, while the concretisation of the Panvel to Kasu highway will speed up travel and save fuel.