Pulling up road ministry, parliamentary panel pushed for rationalisation of toll collection on any highway stretch, and its reduction post recovery of capital & routine maintenance costs.
Parliamentary panel tabled its report on Demands for Grants (2025-26) of MoRTH in Rajya Sabha. It recommended that project approvals be finalised before contracts are awarded.
Government is currently saddled with 600 hectares of land acquired for building highways, now lying idle as projects have become unviable, officials say.
Project approvals will now go through more rigorous scrutiny to ensure cost & time overruns are minimal. By 2023, with nearly 80% of tenders awarded, cost of Bharatmala Phase-I doubled.
The allocation, at 3.4% of GDP, remains unchanged from the figure announced in interim budget in February, and is 11% higher than last year’s outlay of Rs 10 lakh crore.
Govt working to develop access-controlled high-speed corridors as part of Vision 2047, which will be the next phase of highway development after Bharatmala Pariyojana programme.
Titled 'Gadkari', Marathi biopic by debutant director Anurag Ranjan Bhusari comes at a time when road transport & highways minister is perceived to be losing capital in Modi govt.
The underlying issue is that there hasn’t been enough of a structural change in the economy since the launch of reforms in 1990-91, despite per capita incomes multiplying nearly five-fold.
As Visakhapatnam readies a mega airport, the Andhra Pradesh government has revived its shelved Dagadarthi project, aiming to boost cargo and connectivity on the south coast.
Both the Russian and Ukrainian militaries are leaning on drones, but they’re also firing cruise and ballistic missiles, some of them relatively new and experimental.
UK, EFTA already in the bag and EU on the way, many members of RCEP except China signed up, and even restrictions on China being lifted, India has changed its mind on trade.
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