Kamal Nath, Ahluwalia spar over roadblocks
July 5th, 2010 - 8:18 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, July 5 (IANS) Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia Monday let off some pent up steam, each virtually blaming the other for the tardy progress in building the country’s highway infrastructure.
“Planning Commission is an armchair advisor,” Kamal Nath told a seminar on state highways here, adding he was cautioned at the outset that his target of building 20 km of highways a day will be frustrated by the plan panel.
“When I joined this ministry, everyone told me that the Planning Commission will never let you do it,” said the minister, who had set the ambitious target, knowing well that the task will be Herculean.
“You collect something from here, something from there to produce a book,” said the minister, adding: “But the book should not only be well-bound, but it should also have good content.”
Ahluwalia, who was sharing the dais with Kamal Nath, maintained that the plan panel was not an implementing body and said the minister’s remarks will be taken as “constructive criticism” and acted upon.
“We are are sorting them out,” Ahluwalia said, admitting that there were issues as had been raised by the road transport minister, even though the fact was that the Planning Commission is mandated to produce reports.
Nath said the planning commission with all its experts may not be aware of the ground realities that vary from state to state, which he as a person in public life for 35 years was accustomed to.
“Building a road in Kerala is different from building a road in Madhya Pradesh. We must have a concept that is flexible. Public-private partnership for Kerala has to be different from Madhya Pradesh,” he said.
Last year, Kamal Nath had set a target of building 20 km of highways every day as part of his plans to improve road infrastructure, crucial to the country’s economic growth.
But two months ago, he lowered the target to 13-15 km a day, finding that the government had so far been able to build less than 10 km a day due to problems in acquiring land and awarding contracts among other impediments.
rax-ap/srj
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Tags: ambitious target, armchair, building a road, constructive criticism, dais, deputy chairman, ground realities, highway infrastructure, infrastructure planning, kamal nath, kerala, montek singh ahluwalia, planning commission, public private partnership, road infrastructure, road transport, roadblocks, state highways, tardy progress, transport minister