Friday, 22 July 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
The State’s Public Works, Tourism, Rural Works and Irrigation minister Satpal Maharaj met Union Road Transport minister Nitin Gadkari in the national Capital on Thursday. Maharaj submitted a letter to the Union minister raising the issues including upgradation of various State highways to national highways, making Uttarakhand’s Public Work Department the executing agency in the ambitious two-lane tunnel project in Mussoorie and other important issues.
Maharaj informed Gadkari that most of the roads in Uttarakhand are feeder roads for roads along the international border area and are very important from the strategic point of view. The construction, widening, strengthening of the road network and construction of tunnels is necessary for the State’s economic development and encouraging tourism in Uttarakhand, he said. He said that the various State highways should be upgraded and declared national highways. For the ambitious two-lane tunnel project in Mussoorie, the NH- PWD should be made the executing agency. In the letter submitted to Gadkar, the State minister stated that paved shoulder should be built on national highway 9- Pithoragarh-Askot route at the two kilometre mark, the route from Sitarganj to Tanakpur should be made four-lane and a new greenfield bypass should be built from Najibabad to Afzalgarh. Under the new notified national highway 731 K, Maharaj requested that the stretch from Majhaula to Khatima should be widened to four-lane. In another letter submitted to the union minister, Maharaj stated that ropeways can prove to be a useful means of transportation from one point to another in a State with difficult geographical conditions like Uttarakhand. Under the Parvatmala project, the State government has signed a contract with NHLML for seven ropeway projects- which are in different stages at present. Considering the financial condition of the State, according to the direction of this scheme, the State should be freed from the condition of sharing the financing of the construction and a certain portion of the income generated from the scheme should be provided to the State. The minister further requested Gadkari that orders should be issued for swift execution of the proposed ropeway projects in the second phase.
