ON THE MOVE
In creating road infrastructure and revitalising ports, the government’s performance has been stellar, but railways and aviation have to catch up
When the Narendra Modi government took over in 2014, roads were being rolled at the rate of 11 kilometres a day. Four years later, the figure stands at 20 kilometres a day. Most of the credit is due to Nitin Gadkari as minister for road transport, highways and shipping. The ministry speeded up road construction by removing several bottlenecks—land acquisition, clearing of forests, shifting of utilities and removal of encroachments.
Coming up is the Centre’s Bharatmala scheme, under which 83,677 km of roads will be constructed and expanded and 569 highways linked to districts by 2022 at an estimated cost of Rs 6.92 lakh crore. Gadkari has
been able to replicate his success in the shipping ministry, an additional charge, quadrupling revenues at the 12 major ports to Rs 4,000 crore this year. Inland waterways, too, has received a major boost with the inauguration of three multi-modal hubs—convergence of rail, road and waterways— on the Ganga.
Ironically, a widening road network means trouble for Indian Railways. It is heavily dependent on freight not only for revenue but also to crosssubsidise passenger traffic. A better road network means a bulk of freight travels by road. Even with two upcoming Dedicated Freight Corridors (DelhiMumbai and Delhi-Kolkata), which will transport goods four times faster, the railways will have a battle attracting freight traffic. That has been just one of the problems in the mammoth ministry that saw Suresh Prabhu handing charge to Piyush Goyal last September. While Prabhu initiated major structural reforms in the ministry, such as restructuring the railway board for the first time in 70 years, Goyal is taking things forward. The scale of transformation is mind-boggling and the ministers have started with the basics—passenger safety and fixing its creaky infrastructure. All unmanned crossings will be eliminated in three years and all coaches converted to the safer LHB coaches within five years. This, even as the first bullet train is set to run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad by 2022.
India remains one of the fastest growing markets for domestic air travel—registering 20 per cent growth per annum. A key achievement has been UDAN, the regional connectivity scheme to bring hitherto unconnected sectors on the air map. This was done by activating 25 airports and upgrading defence airports. The flagship scheme was allocated Rs 1,014 crore this year, a five-fold increase from last year. The government has had less success in selling off the bleeding national carrier Air India as stringent government conditions drove potential buyers away.