Centre to spend over Rs 1L cr on Himachal Pradesh’s road infra: Nitin Gadkari

Our Correspondent

Hamirpur, March 5

The Union Government will spend over Rs 1 lakh crore for developing road infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh. This was stated by Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Roads, Transport and Highways, while addressing a gathering at Police Ground here after inaugurating and laying foundation stones of various development works of over Rs 4,000 crore today.

He said roads play important role in improving economy of any region and as tourism was major economic activity of Himachal Pradesh, strengthening road infrastructure would boost economy of the state.

Gadkari said in past 10 years, the country had set new milestones in the development of road infrastructure. He said the highest and biggest bridges and tunnels were constructed like tunnel below Zojila and Atal tunnel below Rohtang Pass. “More tunnels will be constructed between Manali and Leh that will reduce distance and cut travel time considerably,” he said.

He said the list of development works in the state was long and the major works on priority were completion of the Kiratpur-Manali four-lane highway, construction of bridges over Govind Sagar near Lathiani and Swan river, both in Una district, and the construction of the Matour-Shimla four-lane highway.

Speaking on the occasion, Anurag Thakur, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, said of Rs 4,000 crore works that were dedicated by Gadkari, Rs 3,000 crore were in Hamirpur parliamentary constituency. He said he was thankful to the minister for sanctioning development works generously.

PWD minister Vikramaditya Singh requested Gadkari to release funds committed by him during his previous visit to the disaster-affected areas. He also requested him to sanction a tunnel under Bubhu Jot Pass as that would make life easier for people in the remote area of Mandi and Kullu districts. JP Nadda, national president of the BJP, also addressed the gathering virtually.

Union Minister lays stone of Bijli Mahadev ropeway

• Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday virtually laid the foundation stone of Bijli Mahadev ropeway in Kullu. Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sunder Singh Thakur said construction of 2.4-km ropeway worth Rs 284 crore would be completed by 2026
• The ropeway promises to revolutionise access to the temple, which has been very challenging, with trekking for two to three hours being the only current option. The project aims to make the temple accessible to all visitors by reducing the travel time to just seven minutes
• The ropeway will feature a monocable detachable gondola system, encompassing 18 towers and two stations. It will begin from the nature park in Mohal and end on the temple premises. Thakur said 36,000 persons would be able to visit the scenic Bijli Mahadev area daily through the ropeway

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