Road construction witnessed a near 60 per cent year-on-year jump in the first two months of financial year 2021-22 (FY22), despite restrictions being imposed in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19. Around 1,470 km of roads were constructed during the first two months of the current fiscal, as against 847 km in the corresponding period last year, according to official figures. However, these are provisional numbers as the state public works departments of Maharashtra and Goa are yet to provide data.
Delays in the National Highway Development Programme are likely to cost the government dear with the project costs escalating by a staggering Rs 50,500 crore (Rs 505 billion).
The thrust will be on improving connectivity in economic corridors and remote and border areas with a view to hike trade and enable faster movement of cargo.
Once the scheme is implemented 70-80 per cent of the freight would move along national highways as against the current 40 per cent, says Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.
Expressways are high-speed road corridors that have access control (they disallow non-motorised and slow-moving traffic) and have a speed limit of 120 km an hour against the national highway speed limit of 80 to 100 km. As of now, under NHDP phase V, national highways that have been four-laned are to be six-laned. Around 5,700-odd km of national highways that have been four-laned are to be upgraded.
The projects are to be given out on design, build operate, finance and transfer basis and are part of third phase of the National Highways Development Project, the government's programme to develop road infrastructure across the country.
'If you are in a position to give employment to local people, you will find no terror attacks in your area.'
Mixing humour with political resolve, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Friday used the flagging-off ceremony of the first train to Kashmir by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Katra to subtly but clearly articulate his government's demand for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
The development of the Rih-Tiddim road and establishment of numerous rural "haat" (flee markets) along the Mizoram-Myanmar border would also increase the trade volume, Modi said while addressing a public meeting at the Assam Rifles ground here after inaugurating the 60-MW Tuirial hydro-electric power project.
The Cabinet meeting and the holy dip comes on a day that marks the first anniversary of the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
India expects a big investment of $5 billion (about Rs 22,800 crore) from Canada in the country's road development programme over the next three to four years, road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath has said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led central government will use the unorganised workers database - e-Shram portal - to provide the benefits of various government programmes to the nearly 300 million workers over the next five years, if it is voted to power for the third consecutive term in the upcoming general elections. "We have registered unorganised workers on the e-Shram platform. "We will reach out to the e-Shram registered 'shramik bandhu' and help them avail the benefits of various government programmes that they are eligible for," the manifesto of the party read.
China plans to build a new highway along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with India as part of Beijing's efforts to strengthen its strategic position and project its power, a media report said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday slammed the Aam Aadmi Party as an 'aapda' (disaster) for Delhi, saying this 'aapda' had taken the national capital in its grip in the past 10 years.
Asian Development Bank to give $300 milion loan to India.
"They (opposition parties) are not concerned about the development of the children of the country's poor. Their common minimum programme is to increase corruption for their family. Democracy means 'of the people, by the people, for the people'. But these dynastic parties have the mantra of 'of the family, by the family, for the family'. For them, their family is first, and the nation is nothing," he said.
The monthly Rs 2500 payment for poor women is expected to cost Rs 11,000 crore while the pension scheme of Rs 2000 for every senior citizen will cost around Rs 4100 crore. The Yamuna clean up will cost over Rs 10,000 crore while a similar amount is required to upgrade Delhi's hospitals. Ultimately, the new BJP government will have no choice but to ask the centre for financial support, notes Rashme Sehgal.
Hundreds of people are facing a shortage of food, safe drinking water and sanitation in Kathmandu following the natural disaster, according to eyewitnesses.
'Peninsular Indians could ask 'Why should we contribute half of India's tax revenues if we account for only a quarter of the seats in the Lok Sabha?'.' 'The rest of the country seems likely to counter that 'democracy means one vote per person irrespective of where that person resides in India'.' 'With no easy answers to this thorny debate, the south's economic ascendancy could end up creating a Hobson's choice.' A revealing excerpt from Nandita Rajhansa and Saurabh Mukherjea's book, Behold the Leviathan: The Unusual Rise of Modern India.
Nibe Space (NSPL), a subsidiary of Nibe, announced its vision to establish India's first multi-sensor, all-weather, high-revisit Earth observation satellite constellation. Aiming to strengthen India's self-reliance in the strategically crucial defence-space sector, NSPL signed memoranda of agreement with Indian and global partners, including Larsen & Toubro, Centum, AgniKul, Skyroot Aerospace, SpaceFields, SISIR Radar, CYRAN AI Solutions, and Thales Alenia Space as a technology partner.
Over the years, NHAI's expenses have spiraled due to sharp increase in land acquisition costs, while budgetary support has shrunk, leading it to fall back on internal resources and market borrowings
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday took potshots at the rival Shiv Sena over its minister not finding a place in the reconstituted NITI Aayog.
Rishabh Pant has been nominated for the prestigious Laureus World Comeback of the Year Award.
While Andhra Pradesh is expected to receive Rs 15,000 crore to Rs 20,000 crore, Bihar is likely to get Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore in FY25.
A leopard strayed into a village in north Delhi's Wazirabad early on Monday, creating panic in the area and injuring eight residents before being tranquillised by forest department officials after an over five-hour-long rescue operation.
The President said low cost airports would be developed to promote air connectivity to smaller towns.
The Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot stretch is set to reduce the travel time between the national capital and Jaipur considerably.
Nearly 240 projects were under various stages of implementation.
Of the 3,893,149 registered applicants on the MP Rojgar portal, only 21 individuals have been successfully placed in government and semi-government positions since April 2020.
Modi said that unlike other parties that believe in keeping people weak so that their dependence on them never ends and their "crown" remains intact, the BJP believes in empowering them and making them independent.
These clauses deal with penalties, licences, registration and National Transport Policy, among others.
Roads are the lifeline of any economy.
Rajnath Singh, under whose stewardship the Bharatiya Janata Party has stormed to power with its highest-ever tally, took charge as the Union home minister.
In an address at an election rally in this southern-most part of Mizoram bordering Myanmar, Singh said violence is no solution to any problem and the two communities in Manipur must talk to each other to improve the situation in the troubled state.
Terming infrastructure as the "backbone" of any nation's development, Goyal while presenting the interim Budget for 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha said India aspires to be a USD 10 trillion economy in the next eight years, and on the anvil is next generation infrastructure of roads, railways, seaports, airports, urban transport, gas and electric transmission and inland waterways.
Developers grappling with labour shortage and getting construction material to sites could be among a list of problems.
The case pertains to the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe.
