Mughal Road can’t be declared National Highway: Gakdari
- PM to inaugurate Chenani-Nashri tunnel after 1-2 months
- Delhi-Katra expressway to reduce journey from 14 to 6 hours
- Kashmiri contractors should build Kashmir roads
- Taking cue from Pakistan, GoI to convert 22 roads into runways
- Plan to construct 27,000 km roads along Pakistan, China, Bangladesh borders
Government of India Tuesday ruled out making the historic Mughal Road an alternate national highway saying the Defence Ministry was not giving its approval due to security reasons.
“Security is an issue which has to be cleared by the Defence Ministry,” Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari said addressing the Regional Editors’ Conference organised by the Press Information Bureau in Chandigarh.
He said though the Peoples Democratic Party-led government in Jammu Kashmir was demanding to make the historic road, which connects Kashmir with Poonch and Rajouri areas of Pir Panjal region, an alternate national highway to the fair-weather Jammu-Srinagar Highway 1-A, the proposal had ran into rough weather due to security concerns flagged by the military establishment.
Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Governor, Narinder Nath Vohra had also written to Gadkari requesting him to declare Mughal Road a national highway.
Vohra had said that declaring Mughal Road as a national highway would provide a reliable all weather alternative route to link Jammu with Srinagar through the Rajouri-Shopian axis.
Gadkari said the 9-km Chenani-Nashri tunnel was almost complete.
“We are waiting for getting a date from the Prime Minister’s office,” he said. “The PM will inaugurate the tunnel after one to two months.”
The Chenani-Nashri passageway connecting Udhampur district with Ramban district on the Srinagar-Jammu highway brings down the distance on the highway by 22 km.
The deadline for the tunnel was initially set as May 2016, which has been extended several times since.
Gadkari said the freezing temperature inside the Zojila tunnel, a Rs 9000 crore project, was slowing its construction work as construction workers were only able to work on it for three-and-a-half months during a year.
The work on Zojila tunnel meant to provide round-the-year road connectivity to the cold desert region of Ladakh has been delayed until April next year the Ministry of Road and Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had transferred the project to National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL).
The Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping said GoI had released Rs 40,000 crore for the construction of roads in Jammu Kashmir and passed instructions that the construction of roads in Kashmir should be done by Kashmiri contractors not by contractors from Hyderabad, Mumbai and other places.
Gadkari said the Delhi-Katra expressway could reduce the journey time from 14 to six hours.
Tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims from across India travel to Katra to visit the Vaishno Devi shrine in Trikuta Mountains.
After Pakistan demonstrated its strength in the Air Force, GoI too has decided to convert 22 roads into runways.
“The Defence Ministry has marked 22 roads across Rajastan and the North East states of Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura to be converted onto runways,” Gadkari said. “However, this is at a preliminary stage and the airports of the Air Force are not near some of these roads.”
He also ruled out building roads in Arunachal Pradesh saying that roads cannot be built in areas, which China lays claim on.
“So instead of constructing roads, we will silently, without dispute, convert them by soil stabilization, which will be like concrete roads and for that too, we have to take the approval of the Defence Ministry first,” the Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping said.
Gadkari said GoI was also planning to construct 27,000 km of road length along Pakistan, China and Bangladesh borders.