JAMMU, Apr 11: The Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Green Field Expressway will be completed way ahead of its scheduled time adding, “the Prime Minister Narendera Modi will inaugurate this Expressway before 2024 Parliamentary elections”.
The Union Minister reiterated, “We have directed the NHAI to complete the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Green Field Expressway before imposition of MCC for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “
“Once completed, the travel time from Delhi to Amritsar will be of 4 hours, from Delhi to Katra, the travel time will be 6 hours and the travel time from Delhi to Srinagar will be of 8 hours,” the Union Minister said.
He was accompanied by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Singh and Union ministers Dr Jitendra Singh and Dr V.K Singh.
Moreover, Gadkari said, developmental works worth Rs 1,30,000 crore are being taken up by MoRTH in J&K and since 2014, around 500 km of the road network has been completed in the region,, including 41 important tunnels, which will be constructed soon in the J&K UT.
“Once all the works are completed, the people would be able to travel from Jammu to Srinagar in 3.5 hours,” the Union Minister said, and added, “Electric double decker buses will also run from Jammu to Srinagar once all the road projects are completed, which is our dream”.
“The Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Green Field Expressway is scheduled to be completed by December 2024, Gadkari said during a press conference at Katra in Jammu region and added, “We have directed the NHAI to complete this dream project before the imposition of Model Code of Conduct (MCC) for 2024 Parliamentary elections”.
“I have no hesitation in saying that we have directed NHAI to complete this mega dream project before imposition of code of conduct so that it can be inaugurated PM Narendra Modi before Lok Sabha elections,” he said, adding there is every reason that we must get political mileage from this project as we started it and it will be completed during our tenure and that too ahead of scheduled time”.
The Union Minister also said that 18 ropeway and cable car projects costing Rs 5,000 crores have also been proposed in J&K UT and the work on these will be started soon.
He said that work for construction of tunnels on Jammu Ring Road, costing Rs 3000 crores, will also be started soon. Once completed, the traffic load will be eased, he said. He further said that the expressway will fully connect Kashmir with Kanyakumari.
Gadkari said that with the development of state-of-the-art road networks across the country through every state and UT, the Kashmir to Kanyakumari will no longer be a dream for the people of India. “We built Atal Tunnel in Manali which connects Ladakh and then Z-Morh tunnels connect Kashmir and followed by this expressway, which connects Jammu with Rajasthan and Gujarat, and then to Southern states,” he said.
On redevelopment of Katra, the union minister said that Inter Modal Station (IMS) to be established in Katra will be a world-class state-of-the-art project constructed to improve travelling experience of the pilgrims visiting Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. He also announced that the 110 km long Amarnath Marg–leading to the holy Amarnath cave in Pahalgam will be built at a cost of around Rs 5300 crore for the con Speaking to media persons after inspecting the Nayvug Banihal-Qazigund tunnel, Gadkari said that on the 245 km stretch of the Srinagar-Jammu national highway, a three-lane marg would come up and work on the 200 km has been completed.
“Today we have achieved a breakthrough on one tunnel and on the 45 km long stretch three more tunnels will be completed by March next year,” Gadkari said, adding the work of one tunnel has been given to TATA which will take time and when these tunnels are complete it will reduce the travel time.
With the construction of this route, there will be all-weather connectivity between Jammu and Srinagar. Travel time from Srinagar to Jammu will be reduced from 9-10 hours to 4-5 hours.
A carriageway of a 40 km 4-lane road between Ramban and Banihal will be completed by June 2024 which will provide relief to the commuters of Srinagar.
The Union Minister said with the construction of these roads will connect Katra with Delhi and Delhi to Srinagar. He said it will provide an impetus to the social and economic growth of Jammu and Kashmir. ( with inputs from KNO)
