New Delhi: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, on Sunday, April 24, inaugurated seven National Highway Projects worth Rs 5569 crore in the Aurangabad region of Maharashtra.
Speaking on occasion, Mr Gadkari said this would give a new dimension to the development of Aurangabad district, which is one of the major industrial hubs in Maharashtra.
Mr Gadkari said efforts had been made to alleviate the water crisis through road projects in the water-starved Aurangabad district.
He said many ponds have been constructed in the road construction on the lines of the Buldhana pattern, and the soil and stones have been used for the construction of roads.
He said the soil extracted from the ponds created in Adgaon-Gandhi, Valmy, and Nakshatrawadi areas and Teesgaon and Sajapur village areas have got the double benefit and would help reduce the water crisis by increasing the groundwater level. The construction of such ponds in the district has increased the water capacity to 14 lakh cubic meters to date, he said.
Gadkari has been advocating higher spending on road infrastructures in the country. Last month, Gadkari told parliament that the government’s massive road network upgrade will make India’s road infrastructure like that of America by December 2024.
Last week he said 33 new road projects would help improve Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh state’s connectivity with Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh.
