Thiruvananthapuram: An angry outburst by Union minister for surface transport Nitin Gadkari in the presence of visiting Chief Mini-ster Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday got the National Highways of India (NHAI) officials move at breakneck speed and clear a long-pending proposal of the Kerala government that will expedite national highway development in the state.
As per the proposal, Kerala will bear one fourth of the Rs 21,000 crore needed for land acquisition for national highways. A memorandum of understanding will be signed between the Centre and the state on October 9, government sources said.
Earlier in the day, Mr Gadkari upbraided the officials for delaying the proposal, that has virtually halted the land acquisition process. “It is a shame that the Kerala CM has to come to New Delhi for the fourth time on the same issue,” he told them. “I will be forced to take stringent action on the guilty. Should I bring in a bulldozer to make you work?”
Mr Vijayan and other officials from Kerala, including Chief Secretary Tom Jose and the state’s representative to the centre A. Sampath, were surprised by Mr Gadkari’s response. Government sources said the NHAI cleared the proposal late in the evening.
The Chief Minister had presented the same set of demands before Mr Gadkari during his last three visits. The state has been saying that the centre’s compensation package was inadequate.
Later, Mr Vijayan told reporters at Kerala House that the NHAI officials had delayed the follow-up for the NH development, which provoked Mr Gadkari.
“He addressed the issue seriously and promised to take a judicious decision. There was a delay in the central clearance for our proposal to meet 25 per cent of the expenses,” he said.
Mr Gadkari also cleared a proposal of the public works department for Rs 175 crore for the maintenance of 184-km stretch of NH across the state.
“Eighty-two per cent work on the Kuthiran tunnel in the Palakkad – Thrissur – Wadakancherry stretch has been completed and Mr Gadkari has promised to resume the work at the earliest. He also asked the NHAI officials to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for 11 ports under the Sagar Mala project,” Mr Vijayan added.
