by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Employment, Government Jobs, News, Politics
Panaji : Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that lengthy land acquisition procedures were delaying major infrastructure projects in Goa and has advised the state government to hire retired officials to hasten the process.
“I suggested them to take some retired people. The National Highways Authority of India will pay them. We should have more people. Maximum of the problems are related to land acquisition. That is the reason we are taking more people to strengthen the land acquisition department,” Gadkari told reporters on the sidelines of a government event here.
The Minister also said that the delays in the execution of major projects were due to inflating costs.
“Work is going on everywhere from Maharashtra border to the Karnataka border. So we need the process of land acquisition to become faster, otherwise, we cannot… It is very important as far as the cost factor is concerned,” he said.
At a review meeting with state Public Works Department on Monday, Gadkari had expressed unhappiness at the slow pace of the redevelopment of the Goa section of the Mumbai-Goa Highway.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Economy, News, Politics
Nitin Gadkari
New Delhi : With petrol and diesel rates skyrocketing on a daily basis, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday advocated bringing fuel under the GST to curb the price hike.
“Petrol and diesel should have been brought under the Goods and Services Tax. I asked officials during a presentation if we bring fuel prices under GST will it benefit the states or not.
“They said ‘yes’, they will benefit,” Gadkari said at a news conclave here on the four years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
He said, however, the states were wary of losing revenue on account of taxes they collect from fuel prices and liquor.
“It will be good if fuel prices are brought under GST. This will not only reduce the fuel prices but will also increase the government’s revenue.”
He, however, said it was his personal opinion, and the ultimate decision regarding this remained with the Petroleum Ministry.
The Minister said fuel prices were surging because of international crude oil rate.
“Earlier, we were giving subsidy on the import (of fuels). When the rates came down, the subsidy was removed. We are part of a global economy…The price of petrol and diesel are increasing due to rise of their price in international rates.”
He said the money that was saved from removing subsidy on fuel allowed the government to give free Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) connections to eight crore families across India.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
New Delhi : Making yet another U-turn, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday apologized to BJP leader Nitin Gadkari for making unverified allegations of corruption against him after which the Union Minister withdrew his defamation case.
The development came days after the AAP leader regretted having accused Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia of drug trade without evidence.
In a letter to Gadkari, Kejriwal said he was feeling sorry for making “certain statements, without regard to its verifiability, which seem to have hurt you…
“I have nothing personal against you. I regret the same. Let us put the incident behind us and bring the court proceedings to a closure.”
He also suggested to the Union Shipping and Transport Minister that “we should put our energy to serve the people of this country in the spirit of mutual respect”.
Consequent to the regret, Gadkari and Kejriwal later filed a joint application in the Patiala House Court, seeking withdrawal of the defamation case.
“Kejriwal has acknowledged that (the) complainant (Gadkari) was hurt on account of unverified allegations and expressed regret, in the larger public interest” and that “the complainant does not wish to pursue the defamation case”, read the application.
In 2014, Gadkari had filed the defamation suit against Kejriwal after he named him in a list of “corrupt politicians”.
Kejriwal has been dragged to courts in several defamation cases by various political leaders, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.
Last week, the AAP leader wrote to Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia for accusing his of involvement in drug trade without any proof to back the allegations..
The apology triggered a virtual rebellion in the AAP Punjab unit, leaing to the resignation of Bhagwant Mann as its Punjab Unit chief.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance
Nitin Gadkari
Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh) : Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday laid the foundation stone for an ‘Intermodal Terminal’ at Ghazipur here which will link National Waterway-I with National Highway-31.
This terminal is being constructed as part of the World Bank-aided Jal Marg Vikas project and will provide intermodal transportation facility for cargo, an official statement said.
“The terminal will thus be very important for efficient movement of large and small cargo by providing the options for both land and water transportation or the option for intermodal switching,” it said.
The terminal will have facilities like berths, storage areas and sheds, terminal building, communications systems and electrical substation. It will have a handling capacity of 12 lakh tonnes per annum.
During his visit to Uttar Pradesh, Gadkari also inaugurated several national highways projects and laid the foundation stone for many others which would collectively span a total length of 246 km built at a cost of Rs 6,517 crore.
In Ghazipur, Gadkari laid the foundation stone for widening and strengthening of 65.38 km long Ghazipur-Mau section of NH 29 at a cost of Rs 3,580 crore and Hridaypur-Tikri Buzurg section of NH-97.
In Maharajganj, he dedicated to the people the “newly-widened and strengthened” 26.9 km long Urka-Ramnagar section and 33 km long Siswa Babu to Kaptanganj section of NH 730.
The work for the former section was done at a cost of Rs 146.39 crores and for the latter at a cost of Rs 222.49 crore, the statement said.
The Minister also laid the foundation stone for widening and strengthening 21.12km long Ramnagar-Siswa Babu section of NH-730 at a cost of Rs 193 crore.
In Deoria, Gadkari laid the foundation stone for widening of 15 km long Deoria Byepass section of NH-727 A at a cost of Rs 600 crore and 27.75 km long Kaptanganj-Padrauna section of NH-730 at a cost of Rs 275 crore.
Gadkari also reviewed the progress of highway projects in Uttar Pradesh with the state Chief Minister in Lucknow.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, News, Politics
New Delhi : Over one lakh workers will receive training in 310 highway projects by June 2018 with another 2.5 lakh in other projects by 2019 under the government’s ambitious Bharatmala scheme, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Friday.
The workers will be trained under six trades — masonry, bar-bending, shuttering, scaffolding, painting and plumbing, said Gadkari during a function where around 300 workers received skill certificates.
To fulfil the requirement of a trained workforce in highway construction, the Ministry had taken an initiative for skill development of workmen in highway construction in projects costing Rs 100 crore and above.
As per the scheme, a dedicated fund of 0.1 per cent of civil construction cost has been allocated for skill development.
“It has been made mandatory for every contractor who is awarded a highways contract to train at least ten persons for every one crore spent on the project,” a government statement said.
Under this scheme, training and assessment fees are paid by the government. “The scheme also has a provision of payment of stipend to the trainees to compensate for wage loss during training period.
“The stipend is directly transferred to the Aadhaar-linked bank account of the trainee without any mediators or commission,” it said.
Gadkari said that it is proposed to train around 3.5 lakh workers under Bharatmala, adding that highways construction work worth Rs 7 lakh crore will be done under Bharatmala Pariyojana.
A total of 4,600 mandays of employment are generated while constructing one lane of one kilometre of a highway stretch. “Thus Bharatmala Pariyojana is expected to generate about 10 crore of mandays,” a statement quoting Gadkari said.
The Minister urged the Skill Development Ministry to design and conduct courses tailored to suit the upcoming requirements of the road transport, shipping, water resources and river development sectors. He said each of these sectors was undergoing massive expansion and transformation.
Gadkari said there was a need to train the youth so that they can take advantage of these newly emerging employment opportunities.
—IANS
