Chandigarh, July 14 Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for 11 national highway projects worth over Rs 20,027 crore in Haryana.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar thanked Gadkari and sought his intervention in resolving the long-pending issue with neighbouring Punjab regarding the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal so that his state could get its legitimate share of river water.
Khattar was speaking after Gadkari inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for 11 highway projects through a web-based function.
He urged Gadkari to intervene and raise the SYL issue before the Central government for early resolution of the long-pending issue in the interest of Haryana.
While Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala, Cooperation Minister Banwari Lal and Member of Parliament Dharambir Singh were present on the occasion here, Health Minister Anil Vij and other ministers joined the function through web link.
Earlier, Gadkari inaugurated three road projects of Rs 2,240 crore. These included the 35.45 km four-lane from Rohna to Jhajjar of the national highway 334-B costing Rs 1,183 crore; the 70 km four-laning of Punjab-Haryana border to Jind of the national highway 71 costing Rs 857 crore; and the 85.36 km two-lane of the Jind-Karnal highway costing Rs 200 crore.
Gadkari also laid the foundation stones of eight road projects, costing Rs 17,787 crore. These included 227 km six-lane access controlled greenfield expressway from Ismailpur to Narnaul, the 46.11 km four-lane of Gurugram Pataudi-Rewari section, the 14.4 km four-lane Rewari bypass, the 30.45 km four-lane Rewari-Ateli Mandi section and the 40.8 km six-lane Narnaul bypass.
Gadkari said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would spend Rs 2 lakh crore on the construction of new roads in Haryana in two years.
He said the highway projects of Rs 20,027 crore would open new vistas of development in the state and provide better road connectivity to the western part of the country and also neighbouring states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
Apart from these road projects, the 687 km long Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway passing through Jind would also benefit Haryana in a big way and also give a major boost to the state economy.
He said out of Rs 1 lakh crore being spent on the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, Rs 55,000 crore is being incurred in Haryana.
While underlining the need for strong political will to bring revolutionary changes in the country through adopting the latest technology, Gadkari said there was no dearth of funds with the Centre for development.
Gadkari urged Khattar to make separate schemes of agro micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
He assured all necessary support and cooperation to Haryana in the formulation of these schemes which would not only ensure industrial development of villages but also provide employment to local youth.
Gadkari said the Centre was also mulling ethanol economy of Rs 1 lakh crore in the country in which Haryana had an important role to play.
The Union minister also urged Khattar to develop new industrial clusters on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor and said the Centre was ready to give all support to Haryana.
( With inputs from IANS )