01-28-2008, 02:37 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>All roads lead to TN, courtesy Baalu </b>
Pioneer.com
Nidhi Sharma | New Delhi
All roads seem to lead to Tamil Nadu. Quite literally so, especially ever since DMK's TR Baalu took charge of Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways.
<b>Latest statistics of the Ministry reveal that the State has cornered the most number of four-laning projects in India, the maximum length of highways under National Highway Development Programme and even pilot projects.</b>
<b>Thanks to Baalu, his home State is surging ahead in road projects. According to the status report of 29 States, Tamil Nadu is slated for upgradation of 2,617.16 km of its highways -- the maximum all over India. Even larger States like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have not had this kind of luck. The comparative figures of other States that follow close are Uttar Pradesh with 1773.81 km, Bihar with 1591.88 and Madhya Pradesh 1465.83 km marked for four-laning.</b>
Baalu's Ministry statistics show that Tamil Nadu ranks sixth all over India on the criteria of highways that have been four-laned so far. About 576.27 km of its national highways have already been four-laned. Other States that have better four-laning statistics include Gujarat (1391.01 km), Andhra Pradesh (1209.39 km), Rajasthan (1007.48 km), Uttar Pradesh (949.21 km) and Maharashtra (829.60 km). The statistics acquire more significance because Tamil Nadu is a smaller State with a lower highway density per lakh of population as compared to these States.
<b>The happy story does not end here. The State finds favour even in fund allocation for repair and maintenance of national highways. The Ministry's statistics reveal that in the last two years, Rs 73.65 crore has been spent on the maintenance of State's highways. This amount is even less than what the Centre allocated for improvement of Bihar's highways. This amount is comparable to what States that have three times the road network and density have got</b>.
Tamil Nadu also has the maximum length of national highways (NH) covered under National Highway Development Programme (NHDP). In all, 3,214 km of NH in Tamil Nadu are covered under NHDP. Only Goa ranks ahead of Tamil Nadu here as 82% of its national highways are undergoing upgradation.
This is not all. The State seems to find favour in other projects -- especially in implementation of pilot projects. <b>Interestingly, the Ministry had chosen Tamil Nadu to implement a pilot project on road safety and motorist behaviour.</b> There is no explanation why the State was chosen. A senior Ministry official said, "It was a pilot project, which will be replicated in all States. There was no particular reason for choosing Tamil Nadu." So here again, the state got lucky and was the first one to have the project.
However, the Minister does not even attempt to hide his soft corner for his home State. <b>He holds special meetings in the Ministry to review the progress of road projects in Tamil Nadu -- an honour that is seldom bestowed on other States</b>. He reviewed the State projects on December 2 and the Ministry sent a page-long description on how the projects had suffered because of monsoons. <b>Goa got this attention after Prime Minister's visit and when the Chief Minister hounded Baalu to draw his attention towards bridge projects that had been pending for over 30 years </b>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pioneer.com
Nidhi Sharma | New Delhi
All roads seem to lead to Tamil Nadu. Quite literally so, especially ever since DMK's TR Baalu took charge of Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways.
<b>Latest statistics of the Ministry reveal that the State has cornered the most number of four-laning projects in India, the maximum length of highways under National Highway Development Programme and even pilot projects.</b>
<b>Thanks to Baalu, his home State is surging ahead in road projects. According to the status report of 29 States, Tamil Nadu is slated for upgradation of 2,617.16 km of its highways -- the maximum all over India. Even larger States like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have not had this kind of luck. The comparative figures of other States that follow close are Uttar Pradesh with 1773.81 km, Bihar with 1591.88 and Madhya Pradesh 1465.83 km marked for four-laning.</b>
Baalu's Ministry statistics show that Tamil Nadu ranks sixth all over India on the criteria of highways that have been four-laned so far. About 576.27 km of its national highways have already been four-laned. Other States that have better four-laning statistics include Gujarat (1391.01 km), Andhra Pradesh (1209.39 km), Rajasthan (1007.48 km), Uttar Pradesh (949.21 km) and Maharashtra (829.60 km). The statistics acquire more significance because Tamil Nadu is a smaller State with a lower highway density per lakh of population as compared to these States.
<b>The happy story does not end here. The State finds favour even in fund allocation for repair and maintenance of national highways. The Ministry's statistics reveal that in the last two years, Rs 73.65 crore has been spent on the maintenance of State's highways. This amount is even less than what the Centre allocated for improvement of Bihar's highways. This amount is comparable to what States that have three times the road network and density have got</b>.
Tamil Nadu also has the maximum length of national highways (NH) covered under National Highway Development Programme (NHDP). In all, 3,214 km of NH in Tamil Nadu are covered under NHDP. Only Goa ranks ahead of Tamil Nadu here as 82% of its national highways are undergoing upgradation.
This is not all. The State seems to find favour in other projects -- especially in implementation of pilot projects. <b>Interestingly, the Ministry had chosen Tamil Nadu to implement a pilot project on road safety and motorist behaviour.</b> There is no explanation why the State was chosen. A senior Ministry official said, "It was a pilot project, which will be replicated in all States. There was no particular reason for choosing Tamil Nadu." So here again, the state got lucky and was the first one to have the project.
However, the Minister does not even attempt to hide his soft corner for his home State. <b>He holds special meetings in the Ministry to review the progress of road projects in Tamil Nadu -- an honour that is seldom bestowed on other States</b>. He reviewed the State projects on December 2 and the Ministry sent a page-long description on how the projects had suffered because of monsoons. <b>Goa got this attention after Prime Minister's visit and when the Chief Minister hounded Baalu to draw his attention towards bridge projects that had been pending for over 30 years </b>
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->