Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said that construction of national highways in Karnataka slowed down due to delay in land acquisition and not getting early forest clearances.
The construction of National Highways in Karnataka was 1,038 km in 2018-19, 777 km in 2019-20, while it was just 671 km in 2020-21. Reasons for slowdown mainly due to delay in acquisition of land, not getting early statutory clearances like forest and environment, and other permissions like permission for quarrying, blasting and mining for sand and soil needed for construction, Gadkari said while replying to BJP Rajya Sabha member K C Ramamurthy.
To a question on what efforts were being made by the Road Transport Ministry to expedite the works, the Minister said that several measures like regular review meetings held by the High Powered Committee headed by Karnataka Chief Secretary to resolve the issues such as land acquisition, forest clearance, environmental clearance and utility shifting.
The Minister also said that the periodic reviews at different levels of the Public Works Department of Karnataka and Ministry of Road Transport & Highways were being taken. Efforts are being made to complete 17 projects in 2021-22 and 43 projects in 2022-23, the Minister said.
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(Published 30 March 2022, 15:24 IST)
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