BENGALURU: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that his ministry is ready to give Rs 2 lakh crore to Karnataka within one month to undertake various road projects, provided the Congress State Government gives the required land.
Gadkari was speaking at the valedictory of the BJP state executive committee meeting in Bengaluru on Thursday.
Recalling that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar met him in New Delhi recently, Gadkari said, “I told them that I am ready to give Rs 2 lakh crore to Karnataka in one month for road works. But my condition to them is to get the land acquisition done... get forest and other clearances. In Karnataka, many projects are stuck owing to this. I cannot make roads in the air.”
Further, Gadkari said that many MPs from Karnataka come to meet him with proposals for road projects. “Whatever their demand is, I have approved. I have sanctioned Rs 3.5 lakh crore worth of work for them. I tell them, get the work, and we will fund it,” the minister said, adding that there is no dearth of funds.
He also said the Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway will be completed before December 2024, and it will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On the Emergency, Gadkari said it was the Congress that tried to kill democracy and the Constitution.