Budget 2022: The unmistakable Gadkari mark in first part of FM's speech

Over-arching emphasis on ramping up transportation infra--christened PM Gati Shakti--is as much a brainchild of Gadkari than it is of PM Modi who launched it last October

While this was Nirmala Sitharaman’s fourth consecutive budget presentation, for the first 45 minutes of her speech the mark of union transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari was unmissable to the discerning eye. The over-arching emphasis on ramping up transportation infrastructure in the country – christened PM Gati Shakti, after all is as much a brain child of Gadkari than it is of PM Modi who launched it in October last year.

According to Sitharaman the seven engines driving PM Gati Shakti are: roads, railways, airports, ports, mass transport, waterways, and logistics infrastructure. But the only concrete announcement for mobilizing resources