Ratnagiri: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has put a full stop to all the speculations about his political career. The rumors were that Gadkari was quitting politics. However, the Nagpur MP has dismissed all these claims.
The rumors sparked after the senior BJP leader hinted that he may be losing interest in politics and said that that he had done a lot of work in his career and it would be alright if people did not vote for him.
“No intention of retiring from politics”
"I have no intention of retiring from politics," the senior BJP leader said while speaking to media in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri on Thursday. The senior BJP leader made this statement while referring to the media reports.
"The media must uphold responsible journalism in their reporting on this matter," he added.
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Earlier on Thursday, the Union Minister also conducted an aerial inspection of the construction work of the Mumbai-Goa highway.
Mumbai-Goa Highway to be completed by December 2023
According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Gadkari also 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. 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.
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.
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Three new projects
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.
