“Nitin Gadkari Denies Having Any Plans to Quit Politics”

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has dismissed media reports claiming that he is retiring from politics. He urged the media to uphold responsible journalism in their reporting on the matter. Gadkari was speaking to media in Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri, where he also conducted an aerial inspection of the construction work of the Mumbai-Goa highway. He said that the much-awaited construction work of Mumbai-Goa National Highway No 66 would be completed by December 2023 and the road will be open for traffic in January 2024. The Mumbai-Goa highway has been divided into 10 packages, of which two packages in the Sindhudurg district are almost 99% complete. There are a total of 5 packages in the Ratnagiri district, of which 92% and 98% of two packages have been completed. The delayed works for two packages have been resumed by appointing a new contractor. Out of the three packages in the Raigad district, two packages have been completed up to 93% and 82% respectively. Gadkari said that land acquisition and environmental clearances for the Panvel-Indapur phase had delayed the work on the Mumbai-Goa National Highway but now all hurdles have been cleared and the environmental issue is being taken care of by removing the flyover in the Karnala sanctuary area. The construction work in Goa of the Mumbai-Goa National Highway has been completed. The minister also announced three new projects worth Rs 15,000 crores. These include the Kalamboli Junction project, the Pagode Junction Chowk to Greenfield Highway project and the Morbe – Karanjade highway connecting Delhi via JNPA. The Minister laid the foundation stone of three national highway projects worth Rs. 414.68 crores and 63,900 km long at Palaspe village in Raigad district. These projects will boost economic dynamism at the two ports of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority and Dighi, while the concretisation of the Panvel to Kasu highway will speed up travel and save fuel.