Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com tracks Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi's project-launching spree with just about three months to go for the assembly election in India's most populous state.
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.
'It is typical of China's strategic deception of making virtue out of necessity,' observes Rup Narayan Das.
The NHAI project director and a retired army brigadier, who was running a consultancy service for NHAI, had been named by murdered NHAI engineer Satyendra Dubey in a letter alleging large-scale bungling in highway construction projects.
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday favoured giving a majority 51 per cent stake to foreign partners in joint ventures for building tunnels and detailed project reports to improve work quality. Gadkari said providing a majority stake to a foreign partner in the joint venture is necessary to ensure that only serious and technically qualified players bid for tunnel projects.
Apart from this, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also gave its approval for starting work on the fifth phase of the National Highway Development Programme.
'Despite the pandemic, we aspire to maintain the momentum of last year.'
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.
The assailants believed to be Pakistani terrorists, meticulously studied the site layout before executing their plan.
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has sent a Chinese national to jail on 14-day judicial remand on blasphemy charges in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after he was arrested on Monday, according to media reports on Tuesday.
A few weeks ago, when Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari launched an electronic toll-collection system on the Delhi-Mumbai highway, television channels reported live from toll plazas showing vehicles with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags in dedicated lanes that did not have to stop for paying cash.
The report showed that 53 road accidents take place every hour in the country.
If it was Andhra Pradesh last Budget, it's poll-bound Bihar that has now turned to Centre with a list of demands. How the NDA government is delivering on promises.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream project -- the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train has been shown the green light with the formation of the company tasked with taking the project forward
The project, anchored by National Highways Authority of India in partnership with National Payments Corporation of India, is gaining momentum, with big banks such as ICICI and non-bank entities like Paytm have also entered the arena.
The civil aviation ministry and Maharashtra have been planning an international airport near Pune for almost 10 years. The airport site would see construction from year 2011 onwards, if the land acquisition happens within a year.
The government on Tuesday decided to set up a committee of secretaries to fast-track implementation of infrastructure projects along the border with China.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday said it has asked Manipur government to pay Rs 10 lakh compensation each within four weeks to the next of kin of all the people who died in ethnic clashes since May.
In a letter to the chief secretary, government of Uttarakhand, Union Power Secretary Alok Kumar said the land subsidence in Joshimath was a very old issue, dating back to 1976, and the construction of the 4x130 megawatt Tapovan Vishnugad project started only in 2006 by NTPC.
The National Highways Authority of India on Wednesday said it needs to borrow up to Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) per year for the next 15 years to implement Rs 9 lakh crore (Rs 9 trillion) worth of road projects in the PPP mode till 2031-32.
An ambitious plan by the National Highways Authority of India to offer 126 road projects worth around Rs 1 lakh crore this year may face serious hurdles owing to a stiff clause introduced in the new Request for Qualification norms that will eliminate many bidders.
In recent years, the twin demands of both religion and defence have been added to the development argument to sweep aside environmental and terrain considerations while undertaking infrastructure development in the Himalayan zone, points out former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
"My aim is to make Maharashtra the world's big financial powerhouse and to make Mumbai a global fintech capital," he said.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been told to work on awarding contracts for around 100 projects, covering 11,151 km, over the financial year starting April 1.
Public-sector banks, including Canara Bank and Bank of India, are tapping the infrastructure bond market. Canara Bank on Tuesday raised Rs 10,000 crore at a coupon rate of 7.40 per cent through 10-year infrastructure bonds. This comes after SBI on July 10 raised Rs 10,000 crore also through infrastructure bonds with a 15-year tenor at a coupon rate of 7.36 per cent.
It was the summer of 2006 (May 18). Writers' Building, then the state secretariat, was buzzing with journalists. The event marked the start of Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's second term as chief minister. And in style, it got off with West Bengal bagging the small car plant, Nano.
Five people were killed and about 50 missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses, bridges and roads, officials said on Thursday.
The national highways selected for upgrade include -- Gurgaon-Jaipur, Surat-Dahisar, Chilkaluripet-Vijaywada and Panipat-Jalandhar. These four stretches together measure about 838 km.
The government has launched another ambitious Rs 40,000 crore project to connect all major cities, not covered by NHDP, by four-lane highways.
'The size of the investments is important, but equally crucial is the number of jobs that these proposals create.'
Gadkari said the NHAI was working on setting up an InvIT to monetise its projects for mobilising resources through capital markets.
A farmers' protest against three farm laws of the Centre, which was continuing on a national highway in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district since December 19 last year, has come to an end with the protesters alleging use of force by police.
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani on Thursday admitted that the 'feel good' factor in Indian economy is yet to spread to the farming sector.
The prime minister, who is on a two-day visit to the state, inaugurated, laid the foundation stone of and dedicated to the nation, railway and metro projects in the state worth Rs 4,500 crore.
'When so many young Baloch men and women are willingly volunteering as fighters and even suicide bombers.'
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has undergone a significant transformation, evolving from hit-and-run attacks to carrying out sophisticated operations with tactical precision. The group's tactics and targets have become increasingly audacious, targeting security forces, Chinese nationals, and innocent civilians. Experts attribute the BLA's evolution to various factors, including the leadership of Bashir Zeb, the group's growing intelligence network, and its exploitation of the grievances of the Baloch people. The BLA's actions are a cause for concern, as the group's sophisticated attacks pose a major challenge to security forces.
Delhi's air quality plummeted to alarming levels on Tuesday after 24 days, with many areas witnessing a significant spike in pollution despite the strictest measures, including a ban on construction activities and the entry of trucks into the city, coming into force.
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