NASHIK: Union minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said they found the cost of land acquisition high in Maharashtra and had asked the state government to reduce the rates.
Speaking at a function in Ahmednagar on Saturday, Gadkari said the secretary of his department had even issued an order that they would not take up any new road project in Maharashtra unless the state government lowers the cost of land acquisition. He said land acquisition costs Rs 18 crore per acre in Maharashtra.
Gadkari said that lowering the cost of land acquisition did not mean that the farmers would be at a financial loss. “I will ensure that they (farmers) get a more attractive price and are not at loss for parting with their land. But my ministry is not in a position to buy land at a high cost as apart from making roads, other infrastructure such as roadside amenities, bus stands etc have to be set up by us,” he said.
He and NCP chief Sharad Pawar were in Ahmednagar on Saturday to dedicate and lay the foundation stone of 526 km of national highway projects in the district. The total project cost of all these projects is Rs 4,074 crore.
The ministry will be implementing the Surat-Chennai greenfield expressway project at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore, which will pass through Nashik, Ahmednagar and Solarpur. “This project will be connected up to Kochi and Hyderabad. Once this project is ready, it would ease the traffic from North India in districts like Kolhapur. It covers 180km in Ahmednagar district and the ministry will spend Rs 8,000 crore in this district,” he added.
Gadkari stressed the need for sugar factories in Ahmednagar to give greater focus on ethanol production. In his speech, Pawar appreciated the work done by Gadkari in making quality roads across the country.
