An eye on adversary, Govt ramping up road network in J&K and Ladakh

Nitin Gadkari said that projects worth over Rs 1 lakh crore are ongoing and that this amount will be enhanced to Rs 2 lakh crore by 2024 in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh for road construction. 

Image: Inside glimpse of the under-construction Zojila tunnel

The Centre has been pushing forward with its efforts to improve the road infrastructure in the Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh that were created after the scrapping of Article 370 and 35A in 2018.

Stating that the works on creating infrastructure should have been done very much earlier, Minister of Road Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari said, "In the next two years, we will be taking up as much work as has not been done in last 50 years."

Sharing the details with media persons, Gadkari said that projects worth over Rs 1 lakh crore are ongoing and that this amount will be enhanced to Rs 2 lakh crore by 2024 in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh for road construction. 

Image: Inside glimpse of the under-construction Zojila tunnel

As far as tunnel construction is concerned, he said 20 tunnels of 32 km will be made in Jammu & Kashmir while 11 passes of 20 km to be built in Ladakh to enhance the physical connectivity for the armed forces, locals and the tourists. 

The rationale behind building tunnels across the two Union Territories is their proximity to Pakistan and China. Better road connectivity plays a key element in the armed forces' preparedness.

He also stated that the Narendra Modi-government had prioritised the development of the J&K and Ladakh and that it could be understood from the fact that when the BJP came in power in 2014 there was only 1,695 km of road was constructed under National Highways and today it has been taken up to 2,664 km.

Image: Union Highway and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari interacting with media persons after reviewing the progress of the construction of the Zojila tunnel 

To enhance the socio-economic development of the Union Territories, Gadkari said that six important projects are going on and that are expecting to be completed by 2024.

Some of these projects include the Jammu-Banihal-Srinagar highway, alternate route from Jammu to Srinagar, Srinagar-Leh highway, Jammu to Akhnoor and Jammu to Shopian highway. 

Earlier in the day, Gadkari inspected the Z-Morh tunnel and Zojila tunnels and expressed satisfaction about the quality and time. 

Image: Inside glimpse of the under-construction Zojila tunnel

On a lighter note, he said, "I have asked the construction firms to complete the projects by December 2023. So that we can get political benefit in 2024 general elections."

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the Zojila tunnel if it gets completed before January 26, 2024.