By Our Staff Reporter
New Delhi, 8 May: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari here today and sought swift approval for several crucial road and infrastructure projects in Uttarakhand. During the meeting, the CM emphasised that the growing influx of tourists during the Char Dham Yatra has significantly increased traffic congestion in the state and that this has necessitated major improvements in road capacity, maintenance, and connectivity to support tourism and economic development.
During the meeting, Dhami urged reimbursement of the pending Rs 367.69 crores under the Central Road Infrastructure Fund. He also sought approval for the Rishikesh Bypass project and requested the notification of the 33 km-long Biharigarh-Roshnabad road as a National Highway. Additionally, he proposed granting National Highway status to the 189 km-long route from Kathgodam to Pancheshwar.
Dhami stated that to address congestion in Dehradun, there is a need for an elevated road over the Bindal and Rispana rivers, linking it as a loop of NH-07 and urged the Union Minister’s approval of the project. Dhami also sought Rs 1,000 crores for the first phase of the Rs 8,000 crore Manaskhand project, which aims to upgrade 20 roads spanning 508 km and improve access to mythological temples. He further urged clearance of the revised cost of Rs 371.84 crores for a bypass road aligned with the expansion of Pantnagar Airport, along with funding for a ring road in Khatima and Rs 110 crores for the proposed metro corridor on NH-07.
The CM further urged the Union Minister for an early approval for widening projects on NH 507 from Barwala to Lakhwad Band (28 km) and on NH 534 from Dugadda to Gumkhal (18.10 km), citing the state’s challenging terrain as the major reason for the project.
On this occasion, Gadkari assured positive action on all the proposals presented by Dhami on the occasion. Union Minister of State for Road Transport Ajay Tamta who represents Almora in the Lok Sabha, Principal Secretaries RK Sudhanshu and R Meenakshi Sundaram, Secretary Pankaj Kumar Pandey, and the state’s resident commissioner in New Delhi Ajay Mishra were present at the meeting.
