Mr. Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways, is indeed a visionary with great ideas and an innovative approach. He is an able administrator who believes in attaining results. This he has proved during his stint as the PWD Minister in the Sena-BJP Government in Maharashtra during 1995-1999.
During his tenure as Maharashtra Minister, he showed his resoluteness in swiftly completing mega projects like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway or the network of 55 flyover bridges in Mumbai at costs far below the estimated expenditure.
During these four-and-a-half years, he left an indelible mark of his style of governance on his department. Besides playing a key role in shaping the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana during the NDA rule under Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, he was able to get the Central PWD revamped as per his suggestions. During the period, he also transformed Nagpur, making it one of the most beautiful cities in India.
Mr. Gadkari’s thrust area always has remained the economic and social upliftment of the have-nots. A case in point is his work for the educated unemployed. When he was Minister in Maharashtra, he launched a scheme for qualified unemployed civil engineers. They were allowed to register with the PWD and undertake its assignments estimated to cost up to Rs. 15 lakhs.
Further, Mr. Gadkari provided work to around 30,000 engineers through this bold initiative. At the same time, he started a campaign to reward the employees doing good work and penalize those shirking their responsibilities. Every year since, the State Governor distributes awards to outstanding PWD engineers on the birth anniversary of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. Such pioneering efforts instilled a sense of confidence among the PWD personnel. Under Mr. Gadkari, they completed several prestigious assignments in record time.
The two achievements of Mr. Gadkari need special mention. He pioneered the concept of public-private partnership (PPP) in infrastructure development. The build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, which is the basis of this concept, is now implemented all over India. The other one is the upgradation of the norms for the construction industry. Completion of mega projects in a time-bound frame, too, is his initiative.
Establishment of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) was one of his innovative initiatives through which funds were raised from the open market for infrastructure projects for the first time in India.
Another major task to which Mr. Gadkari was committed was to provide all-weather road connectivity to the 13,736 villages in Maharashtra. For the purpose, he persuaded NABARD officials and obtained a soft loan of Rs. 700 crores for rural connectivity.
In his new role as the Minister for Road Transport & Highways at the Centre, Mr. Gadkari would hopefully continue working in the same spirit to rebuild India by strengthening the transport sector.