Kolkata: Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Saturday that the Centre has approved more than Rs 500 crore for strengthening and selective widening of NH-14 and NH-114 in Birbhum district of West Bengal.
The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways made this remark in his official X post.
“In West Bengal, we have approved Rs 508.66 crore for strengthening and selective widening of NH-14 and NH-114 in Birbhum district. The project covers 91.90 km of NH-14 from Bhimgarh to Nalhati via Mallarpur and 56.40 km of NH-114 from Surul Village to Mallarpur,” Gadkari said.
According to the Union Minister, the upgraded corridors will improve road safety, ease congestion and travel time.
Gadkari said, “The upgraded corridors will improve road safety, ease congestion, reduce travel time, facilitate smoother movement of people and goods, and strengthen connectivity between villages, towns and key economic centres.”
He also added that the project will also support regional trade, local businesses and economic activity while providing safer and more efficient journeys for commuters and freight operators.
After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government came to power in West Bengal following the recently held Assembly elections, the Centre has cleared several projects and funds for the state which were stalled due to the objection and non-cooperation of the previous Trinamool Congress government.
Besides this, the Centre has been making financial allocations in many sectors to strengthen the infrastructure of West Bengal.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Nitin Gadkari said infrastructure development was the key to making India a leading economy and called for the formulation of an international code of conduct for the infrastructure sector.
He was addressing a gathering in Nagpur after the inauguration of the conference “Asian Scenario on Infrastructural Development (ASID-26)”, organised by the Nagpur Centre of the Indian Concrete Institute.
Stressing the need to promote the use of alternative and discarded material in infrastructure development, the Union Minister said the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has so far utilised around 80 tonnes of municipal waste in road construction.
(IANS)
