Nitin Gadkari’s Highway Jumla: A Fact-Check on Road Construction

The rate of highway construction has remained relatively the same both under the NDA and UPA, writes Amitabh Dubey.

Roads and Shipping Minister, Nitin Gadkari, likes to present himself as the single-handed builder of the Indian highways. He has repeatedly claimed – most recently at the 2016 India Today Conclave – that the pace of highway construction has increased by close to ten times under his watch:

@SandeepUnnithan @nitin_gadkari Everyone is acquiring the journalists' habit of squirting stats without a care for veracity.

— Feroz (@Ferozx) March 17, 2016

This would be brag-worthy if it were true, but it isn’t. Check the table below:

There has been an increase of 30% in the pace of highway construction between 2014-15 and 2015-16, from about 12 to just under 16 km/day. While that’s commendable, it is the same pace of highway building that the policy-paralysed United Progressive Alliance (UPA) achieved in 2012-13.

Mr Gadkari has a penchant – like others in his government – for exaggeration. Perhaps he should hold the boasts for when the pace of highway construction actually exceeds the (did I mention demotivated and paralysed?) UPA’s.

(The writer is a political analyst)

The article appeared originally here as a blog on chunauti.org.

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