India is on the move, on the fast lane. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on boosting infrastructure as an engine of growth, the country added more than 50,000 lane kilometers (length of each new lane built) to its highway system in the past nine years.
New expressways are being built and all weather tunnels drilled in the Himalayas. Last year, vehicle sales set a record of 42.5 lakhs units, and India overtook Japan to become the world’s third largest auto market. The road to attaining the number one position in building infrastructure is being paved with ambition.
“In the next five years, India’s roads will rival America’s,” Nitin Gadkari, minister of road transport and highways said. As Modi’s man tasked with transforming the country’s highway network, Gadkari takes cue from what US President John F. Kennedy said: that American’s road are not good because it is rich, America is rich because its roads are good. The statement is displayed in his Transport Bhavan office, and he repeats it often at public forums. India, he says, recently tipped China to have the world’s second largest road network after the US.
Gadkari, 66, is the only minister to have held the same portfolio since Modi came to power in 2014. In fact, Modi was holding talks for forming his first cabinet, he reportedly asked Gadkari to pick a portfolio. Gadkari, apparently, insisted on holding the “less attractive” road transport and highway ministry, even though he was among the top four leaders who could be part of the powerful cabinet committee on security (comprising the prime minister and the defense, home and finance ministers).
Gadkari fell back on his core strength. When he was public works minister in the BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999, he had set up the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) and sought investments from industry bodies, even small ones. He did not follow the conventional route of allowing big builders bag contract by quoting enormous sums. Gadkari’s unconventional approach was so successful that he went on to build 55 flyovers and the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. He not just pioneered the public-private partnership model, but also drafted a report on building rural roads when Atal Behari Vajpayee was Prime Minister.
The Mumbai-Pune Expressway was the pet project of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. When the expressway was completed, Thackeray told Gadkari, “I like those who deliver.” The reputation as a minister who delivers has stuck with him even as Modi government completes its 10th year in power. Apart from the highways ministry, Gadkari had earlier handled shipping, Namami Gange, and micro, small and medium enterprises ministries.
When Modi spoke individually to all his ministers after forming his government in 2014, it was known that national highways spanned just 96,000 km constituting only two per cent of the total road length in India. Yet, the highway carried 60 per cent of the traffic burden. A target was set: at least double the length of the highways.
Gadkari got down to the job. He held town-hall-like meetings with officials, engineers and contractors to review 300 stalled projects. “Similar problems were bunched together and a common solution found, which resulted in the ministry going to the cabinet 22 times during the first three years to get things moving,” said an official.
What makes Gadkari the best performing minister in the Modi government? “We work transparent and are result-oriented,” he said. “We work as a team and resolve the problem. I encourage good work. I encourage good work. When there is inspiration for a good cause, people work”.
Gadkari’s 2, Motilal Nehru Marg bungalow was once the office of the National Advisory Council headed by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi. Gadkari has given the building his own touch. Paintings and artwork depicting Hindu deities adorn the walls. Hanuman’s is the largest picture, and bronze statues of Krishna added to the charm. Gadkari also keeps the statues of RSS founder K B Hedgewar and that of Swami Vivekananda.
Gadkari knows the value of building roads. “The huge infrastructure projects implemented by the government led by Prime Minister Modi will help it retain power in 2024,” he says. (IPA Service)
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