Kailash Mansarovar via Pithoragarh route: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that Indian pilgrims will be able to travel to Kailash Mansarovar straight from Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand by the end of 2023. This new route will cut dependency on Nepal and China.
Speaking in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Gadkari said majority of work on the project has been completed.
"I don't want to travel to Kailash Mansarovar via Nepal or China. Indians will be able to reach Mansarovar from Pithoragarh by the end of 2023. We have completed 85% of the work," Gadkari said, adding that this new route will offer a smooth ride unlike the present tricky trek up to the pilgrimage site.
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Highlighting the improvement in highway connectivity and road infrastructure, Gadkari said that it now takes only 40 minutes to travel to Meerut from Delhi, as against four hours earlier.
"Our aim is to reduce the cost of construction and improve the quality," he said, adding the milestone of 38 km/day road construction, which is a world record, was achieved by India last year.
'Srinagar to Mumbai in 20 hours'
On the progress in the building of infrastructure, the minister said that road travel between Delhi to Jaipur; and Delhi to Haridwar now takes 2 hours. Similarly, the travel time from Delhi to Amritsar is now four hours.
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Gadkari said that connectivity between Delhi to Mumbai will be improved such that the travel time is reduced to 12 hours and added that "we will complete within this year".
"From Ladakh, Leh to Srinagar we will go to Mumbai, before the end of this year, we will try that from Srinagar you are able to reach Mumbai in 20 hours," the minister said.
Work is on in full swing for the Zojila tunnel in Kashmir and is expected to be completed by 2024, much before the scheduled target of 2026, he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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