Mr. Mehta begins with the Road and Highways (This is with reference to an article ‘While we were silent’ published in Indian Express on July, 11, 2013.) “They slowed down road construction. They left highways half built. We did not speak out. After all, the only reason the NDA could have started the golden quadrilateral is because they wanted to spread Hindutva.” Facts - 1. The much touted Golden Quadrilateral Highways Project of the NDA Government was to be completed by December 2004 (Ref Link 1), However It was only 23% Complete (Ref Link 2) by April, 2003 And Only 37% -2198 kms out of 5846 kms was completed when the Planning Commission did a mid-term appraisal of the 10th Plan in September, 2004 (Ref Link 3) 2. 100 % of Golden Quadrilateral completed by UPA -97% during UPA-1 itself (Ref Link 4) 3. 100 % of Phase II of NHDP completed in 2009 (Ref Link 5) 4. NHDP Phase-III involves four-laning of 12,109 km of national highways, having high density corridor connecting state capitals, important tourist places, economically important areas, etc. 5. 52 % of Phase III of NHDP completed as on Feb 2013 (Ref Link 6) 6. If the Congress, was destroying the Nation as alleged by Mr. Mehta, India wouldn’t have 3.34 million kilometers of road network, which is the second largest in the world. Also, More than 2 lakh kilometers of new roads have been added to the rural road network in 9 years – under UPA It must however, be agreed that Mr. Mehta’s is damn right in pointing out that the speed of road construction in this country has slowed down due to various bottlenecks and this has a lot of scope for improvement. Reference Link 1: pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2003/rapr2003/10042003/r1004200328.html Reference Link 2: pib.nic.in/feature/feyr2003/fapr2003/f020420031.html Reference Link 3: pib.nic.in/release/rel_print_page1.asp?relid=3767 Reference Link 4: hamaracongress/2013/07/12/a-silent-revolution-took-place-while-we-were-silent-2/ Reference Link 5: morth.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/English%20Part%201-2878683332.pdf Reference Link 6: morth.nic.in/writereaddata/linkimages/English%20Part%201-2878683332.pdf -By Rachit Sheth
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 04:27:09 +0000