Modi Budget 2.0: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari to discuss govt's strategy on building infrastructure

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Saturday will speak on Modi 2.0 government's plan to work on infrastructure building over the next five years. The ministry aims to provide fillip to major projects, which include highway construction, doubling railway lines and electrification. Gadkari will be speaking at News Nation's exclusive 'Modi Budget 2.0' Sammelan, scheduled to be held on Saturday, a day after the BJP-led NDA government unveiled its full-time Budget for the financial year 2019-20 on July 5.

During his marathon Budget speech at Parliament, Sitharaman on Friday said there will be a comprehensive restructuring of National Highways Programme to ensure creation of National Highways Grid of desirable capacity.

The Union Minister announced that the government has already approved Rs 10,000 crore for FAME II scheme on April 1, 2019 to encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles by providing right incentives and charging infrastructure. She noted that 657 km of metro rail network has already become operational in the country.

The finance minister said India's first indigenous payment ecosystem for transport based on National Common Mobility Card was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2019, enabling people to pay multiple types of transport charges.

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Who is Nitin Gadkari?

Gadkari, who is one of the major successes in the Modi 1.0 Cabinet between 2014 and 2019, has retained the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in the second term of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government as well.

The Union Minister is credited to increase the pace of road construction in the country from 2 km/day to 16.5 km/day in his first year and to 21 km/day in the second year and end of 2018 30 km/day. He also reserved an amount of one per cent of the total projects awarded in his tenure worth Rs 2 trillion (US$29 billion) for trees and beautification.

Gadkari, who also served as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), retained his Nagpur seat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections defeating Congress' Nana Patole.