​Roads to Railways: Rajasthan Sees Infra, Connectivity Push As it Heads towards State Polls

Ahead of the assembly polls in Rajasthan, the Union government has started to shift its focus to the state, offering citizens better connectivity and infrastructure development.

Since May 15, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has visited the state twice to review and inaugurate new projects. Not just Gadkari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also given a lot of projects to the state since April.

Gadkari, who visited the state on May 15 and 22, has reviewed a number of projects, including the Amritsar-Jamnagar greenfield corridor. This expressway will be connected to the Delhi-Katra Expressway near Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district and will facilitate pilgrims from Rajasthan going to the Vaishnao Devi Dham.

During the inspection, Gadkari had said the expressway will cut the travel time between the cities of Punjab and Gujarat by 10 hours. It will connect the economic towns of Amritsar, Bhatinda, Sangaria, Bikaner, Sanchore, Samakhiyali and Jamnagar across the four states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. The six-lane 917-km-long access controlled expressway is being built at a cost of Rs 22,500 crore.

Further the Amritsar-Jamnagar greenfield corridor will be connected to Ludhiana through a four-lane Ludhiana-Bathinda Expressway that will be 75-km-long and will connect major towns of Rajasthan with that of Punjab. This will ease the trade flow between these cities. Another 128-km greenfield highway, planned at a cost of Rs 4,350 crore, will connect Ludhiana with Rupnagar and ease the journey from parts of Rajasthan to Kullu-Manali.

In Jaipur, construction of a six-lane greenfield spur from Delhi-Mumbai expressway is also underway. Being constructed at a cost of Rs 4,500 crore, this e-way will be 92 kms long. Further, a greenfield expressway ring road in Jodhpur and a greenfield bypass in Udaipur are also under construction.

NOT JUST ROAD, BUT RAILWAYS TOO

On April 12, the state got its first Vande Bharat enhancing connectivity to the national capital. The PM did not visit the state, but inaugurated the train through video-conferencing.

On May 10, in less than a month, the Prime Minister visited Rajasthan and laid the foundation stone and dedicated to nation infrastructure projects worth over Rs 5,500 crore in Nathdwara, this included both railways and road projects. He laid the foundation stone for road construction projects for upgradation to two-lanes in Rajsamand and Udaipur and inaugurated three national highway projects.

Modi also laid the foundation stone for redevelopment of Udaipur railway station and gauge conversion project. During his address, Modi said that the day is not far when Rajasthan will be one of the states with 100 percent rail electrification.

Before that, the Prime Minister had visited the state in February for the inauguration of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway in Dausa. During the programme, the Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone of 247 km of national highway projects to be developed at a cost of more than Rs 5,940 crore, including 67-km long four-lane spur road from Bandikui to Jaipur to be developed at a cost of more than Rs 2,000 crore, a six-lane spur road from Kotputli to Baraodaneo, to be developed at a cost of about Rs 3,775 crore and two-lane paved shoulder of Lalsot-Karoli section, being developed at a cost of about Rs 150 crore.

‘NOT ABOUT ELECTIONS’

When contacted, both the railways and road ministries said that the projects have nothing to do with the upcoming elections.

According to an official from MoRTH, currently projects worth Rs 80,000 crore are underway in Rajasthan. This year, the ministry is aiming to complete projects worth Rs 20,000 crore.

“We have been inaugurating and reviewing the projects for various states. Currently, there is no part of the country where our projects are not underway. So the election has nothing to do with these projects,” the MoRTH official added.

A similar response was from the railways as well. “We are undertaking projects depending upon the feasibility and requirement,” an official said, demanding anonymity.

Rajasthan is expected to go for polls around November-December and soon after that 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be held around March.