Central and State Governments should cooperate for infrastructure development in India: Nitin Gadkari

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, in a meeting held on Monday, January 17, 2022, called for cooperation between Central and State Governments for infrastructure development of the country. He said that the infrastructure development will play an important role in fulfilling the vision of India in becoming $5 trillion economy.

While inaugurating a Conference on “PM-Gati Shakti” for the South Zone, organized by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), he said cooperation and communication needs to be enhanced between State and Centre. He welcomed suggestions from the States for making the programme a success. 

In his remarks, Minister of State (RTH and Civil Aviation) General (Retd) Dr. V.K. Singh said the aim of “PM-Gati Shakti” is to give a boost to multi-modal connectivity in India. Secretary of MORTH, Giridhar Aramane, in his welcome address, stressed upon creating institutional framework at the State level. He said objective of the conference is sensitization and capacity building from officers of all Central Ministries and State Governments, besides development of a roadmap for a Master Plan for States and UTs.

Shri R.K. Pandey, Member National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), added his thoughts  on the “Implementation Roadmap for PM-Gati Shakti”, chaired by Ms Alka Upadhyaya, Chairperson NHAI, in the presence of senior officials from States/UTs. Alka Upadhaya, Chairperson NHAI, then listed out some significant points given by the senior officials of participating States. 

State/UTs, which participated in the event, were Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. The day-long event witnessed panel discussions on various aspects of the programme, involving Central & State officials and stakeholders.

Additional Secretary (Highways) MoRTH, Amit Kumar Ghosh, invited officials of the eight participating States/UTs to put forth their presentation showcasing the strategies for industrial development, potential MMLPs, economic overview of states and overview of logistics landscapes, objectives of NMP, proposed modes of connectivity and various other aspects to strengthen the logistics infrastructure.