New Delhi: Under attack from members, Surface
Transport Minister Kamal Nath in Tuesday sought to blame the excess
rains this year for bad condition of roads in some parts of
the country.
"It is true that the condition of highways is not good in
some parts. This year we had excess rains," Nath said replying
to supplementaries during Question Hour.
He said his ministry has written to the Finance Ministry
for increased allocation for maintenance and repair of
highways.
"We hope that the Finance Minister will agree to our
proposal," Nath said.
To a specific question on repair of highways passing
through Madhya Pradesh, he said the work would begin later
this week.
Nath also faced some tough questions from members on the
target set by his ministry to build 20 km road per day.
BJP member Yashwant Sinha sought to know from Nath whether
the processes of due diligence was done before setting the
stiff target.
Nath asserted that he never said the ministry would
achieve the target immediately. "It is impossible to build 20
km of road per day in the current circumstances," he said.
He also said that to achieve the target, the ministry
needed to build 7,000 km roads every year.
"Right now, projects for laying 14,704 kms of road was
under implementation and this year we hope to add between
8,000-10,000 km," he said.
"We will be able to move towards achieving the 20 km per
day target after one year," Nath said.
He said the target achieved on an average from June 2009
to September 2010 was 12.01 km per day.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 09, 2010, 15:23