Congress and some other opposition parties demanded in the Lok Sabha to pay special attention to road safety and take concrete steps to curb accidents. At the same time, BJP MP Tapir Gaon lauded the government for the road construction, calling Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari the ‘spiderman’ who laid the road network in the country.
The discussion started on Wednesday in the Lok Sabha on ‘Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for the year 2022-23’ was carried forward. M Bharat of the YSR Congress Party said that the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act lays emphasis on increasing the road connectivity between Amaravati and Hyderabad. In such a situation, the government should tell what progress has been made in this.
‘Today India is number two in the world in terms of roads’
Congress’s MK Vishnu Prasad said that due to the work done by the previous Congress governments in road construction, today India is at number two in the world in terms of roads. He said that Germany is number one in the quality of roads, but India is 44th. The government is not paying full attention to the quality of the roads. Prasad said, “Only two per cent of the allocated budget is being spent on road safety, whereas in the US, six per cent of the budget is spent.”
Road construction work intensified near the border with China
Taking part in the discussion, Tapir Gaon of BJP said that I have named Nitin Gadkari as ‘Spiderman’ because he has laid a network of roads just like a spider lays a web. He said that after the Modi government came, the work of construction of roads near the border with China is going on fast. Referring to the construction of several roads in his state, the Lok Sabha member from Arunachal Pradesh said, “Modi hai to mumkin hai, Gadkari hai to mumkin hai. I hope ‘Spiderman’ continues to carry on with the pace at which he is building roads. The country and the Northeast will continue to move forward like this.
Referring to the unfinished works of some highways passing through Moradabad, ST Hasan of the Samajwadi Party said that the road transport ministry should look into it. Taking part in the discussion, Chandeshwar Prasad of Janata Dal (United) said that the country loses three per cent of GDP due to road accident deaths. The ministry should take more effective steps to prevent accidents.