Expressway would generate employment for many people in Chambal region: Nitin Gadkari

Bhopal:

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said if the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is able to acquire land for the ambitious project Chambal Expressway in three months, the Centre would quickly start work on it.

His announcement came at a time when his party is gearing up for bypolls on 24 assembly seats, most of which are located in the impoverished ChambalGwalior region of the state, where the BJP came to power in March.

Twenty-two Congress rebel MLAs, mainly loyalists of former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, had resigned in March, resulting in collapse of the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government.

“After becoming chief minister (in March) Shivraj Singh Chouhanji spoke to me about the proposed expressway in Chambal. Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar ji often tells me that the project would open new vistas for development in the region,” Mr Gadkari said.

The Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister was addressing the BJP’s ‘Jan Samvad virtual rally’ in Bhopal from Nagpur.

“Shivrajji accomplish the work of land acquisition. If you do the work of acquiring 80 per cent government land in three months, I assure you, I will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay the foundation stone of the project,” the senior BJP leader added.

“It (the project) should not just be a highway. On both sides, industrial units and food clusters should come up. We will open industries along the highway,” said Mr Gadkari, who is also the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister.

He said the expressway would generate employment for a huge number of people in the Chambal region whose ravines were once infamous for sheltering dacoits.