Centre committed to overhaul Jharkhand's infra; will implement Rs 2 lakh cr-projects: Gadkari

Garhwa: Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said the Centre is committed to augment Jharkhand's infrastructure and would implement projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore in the state.

The Union Road Transport and Highways Minister asserted that Jharkhand, which is rich in mineral resources, would see unprecedented growth in the highways sector.

"I am committed to bolster Jharkhand's infrastructure. I assure the people of implementing Rs 2 lakh crore-worth national highways projects in the state," he said, while addressing a public gathering here.

"We have completed Rs 40,000-crore national highway projects in the state. At present, we are implementing highway projects worth Rs 70,000 crore, while projects worth Rs 75,000 crore are in the pipeline," Gadkari added.

He said that the Rs 36,000-crore Varanasi-Ranchi-Kolkata greenfield corridor will be completed by March 2028, while Rs 12,800-crore Ranchi-Varanasi economic corridor will be built by January 2028.

Besides, the Delhi-Kolkata Rs 31,700-crore six-lane corridor will be completed by June 2026, he added.

Gadkari said till elections, there should be politics but after the polls, there should be "development politics", hinting at populist measures by Jharkhand's JMM-led government.

He also urged the Jharkhand government to address bottlenecks pertaining to land acquisition, clearance from the forest department and other issues in the state.

"We will ensure better connectivity between Jharkhand and other states, including Bihar," the minister said.

Gadkari said the state, which had a national highway network of 2,600 km in 2014, now has 4,470-km network.

Nineteen aspirational districts of the state are linked with the national highway network now, he said.

In Garhwa, the minister inaugurated a 23-km four-lane highway from Shankha to Khajoori, built at a cost of Rs 1,130 crore.

He also laid the foundation stone of a Rs 1,330-crore project for four-laning of a 32-km stretch of NH 39 from the Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand inter-state boundary to Gumla.