Union Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath was taken aback at the Indian Consulate in New York, when a journalist asked him about his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in New Delhi during a press conference Tuesday, a couple of hours after a civil lawsuit was filed against him in a New York district court.
The minister said the monorail systems can be built under public-private-partnership mode.
A petition has been filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging the election of Union Minister for Surface Transport Kamal Nath from Chhindwara Lok Sabha constituency for allegedly suppressing actual expenditures incurred on helicopter rides during campaign.
Some ministers have a different point of view from the current conventional wisdom in the Congress party and the UPA government.
"We have decided to build 20 km of roads every day and then take it to 7,000 km a year. Therefore, if we lose more days (in terms of putting foreign investment in place), it will be a great loss," Union Minister of Surface Transport Kamal Nath told a gathering of 100-odd potential investors and entrepreneurs at the Indian Consulate in New York on Tuesday.
We have decided to build 20 kilometers of road a day to take it to 7,000 kilometers a year: Kamal Nath.
Aiming for a 9 per cent GDP growth by 2011, India attaches the 'highest priority' to build good road infrastructure across the country to achieve the target, Union Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath has said.
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
Soon after taking charge, transport minister Kamal Nath had made it mandatory for the states to sign the State Support Agreement under which the states would have to acquire land for highway construction to get central funds.
The much-hyped target set by Union road transport and highways Minister Kamal Nath, to build 20 kilometres of roads every day, might be revised to a more achievable target, informed sources say. Sources close to the development say there is talk within the ministry of a more feasible target. "The target of 20 kilometres per day is not sacrosanct. That is what the minister wanted to achieve.
The government planned to build 12,000 kilometres of roads, including highways, at an estimated cost of Rs 1,00,000 crore (Rs 1 trillion) in the current financial year, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said.
A plan for projects to be awarded in the year 2010-11 is to be launched soon.
The minister, however, refused to divulge the names of the companies saying that there were many of them and he could not name them just then.
The minister said there is a need to ramp up road construction 10-fold to achieve the development targets set for the next decade.
The Indian economy has emerged almost unscathed from the global economic crisis that has ravaged many nations, said Union Minister of Surface Transport Kamal Nath on Tuesday.
In an interview with Mihir Mishra and Jyoti Mukul, Nath, who as the commerce and industry minister in the previous United Progressive Alliance government was part of the fire-fighting to minimise impact of the slowdown, says that the current year will be better than the last year.
NHAI chairman Brajeshwar Singh said the highways authority would recruit 400 people in the next 12-18 months to deal with the manpower shortage faced by it.
The group, which held its first meeting in London on Monday will focus mainly on the construction of major highways and district-level roads. It will comprise major road building contractors from the UK and India.
To centralise process by setting up special units in each state.
Canada is not reaching out to India to the extent it could have, said Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath.
Two state ministers have also come out in the open to demand a detailed assessment by the top leadership.
Despite claims of an 'austerity drive' by the United Progressive Alliance government and the Congress party, some Union ministers appeared to prefer upmarket accommodation during their official visits to the United States.
Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Transport Kamal Nath on Tuesday claimed that the Congress would form the government in Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra.
As Madhya Pradesh goes to polls, all eyes will be on 29 key assembly seats, out of the total 230, where the contest will be keenly watched.
A number of Union ministers including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reached the residence of Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in New Delhi to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr on Wednesday.
The assertion by the Congress came after Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, citing concerns raised by three BJP MPs over the spread of coronavirus, urged Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to consider suspending the Bharat Jodo Yatra if adherence to Covid protocols cannot be followed.
Rajasthan assembly Speaker C P Joshi is the slender thread that stands between a Congress and BJP government
The three-time chief minister and senior Congress leader, who gave Delhi its modern look, passed away on Saturday afternoon at a private hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Glimpses of Republic Day celebrations across the country.
If the Opposition has any chance at the prime minister's job, it can happen only if they all stop dropping names and work at the grassroots-level, state-wise, suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Lok Sabha has already passed the Bill.
The tally of 114 includes two fatalities and 17 foreigners as well as 13 people who were discharged after they recovered from the infection.
The parade began after President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Ashoka Chakra -- India's highest peacetime gallantry award -- to Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani, a militant-turned-soldier who laid down his life fighting a group of terrorists in Shopian in Kashmir in November.
Several trains were cancelled, highways and key roads blocked and many thousands stranded for hours on Monday as a nationwide 10-hour shutdown against the Centre's three agri laws disrupted lives across parts of India, particularly in the north.
Is anyone in the BJP listening -- to what Nitin Gadkari had to say, but possibly left unsaid? asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances