New Delhi, March 23. Toll collecting booths which are within 60 km from another on National Highways will be closed in the next three months, said union minister for roads and highways Nitin Gadkari today. Addressing members in Rajya Sabha, Mr. Gadkari said, “ I assure there will be only one toll plaza in a sixty kilometre stretch. People residing near toll plazas will be able to get passes for their travel using Aadhar cards,” the minister added.
Highlighting the massive infrastructure development being carried out by the union government at present, Mr.Gadkari said the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway which will make travel between the capital of India and financial capital of India possible in 12 hours, will be completed this year. Similarly the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra Expressway is fast getting ready and the Delhi-Amritsar stretch will be completed this year itself, he said. This will reduce the travel time between both cities to four hours, Mr. Gadkari added. In the near future one could travel between Srinagar and Mumbai in 20 hours.
New route to Kailash-Mansarovar
In another major announcement, the minister said the pilgrims to Kailash peak and Mansarovar Lake could stop taking a circuitous route through Nepal or China in the near future, as pilgrims would be able to reach Western part of Tibet Autonomous Region in China through Pithorgarh in Uttarkhand by the end of 2023.
This would minimise the travel through China and avoid entering Nepal. Kailash peak and Mansarovar lake are considered sacred by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.
The new route to Kailash Mansarovar from Uttarakhand involves three stretches. The first stretch is a 107.6 km-long road from Pithoragarh to Tawaghat, the second is19.5 km single lane road from Tawaghat to
Ghatiabgarh, and the third stretch is a 80-km-long road from Ghatiabgarh to Lipulekh Pass at the China border.
The single-lane Tawaghat to Ghatiabgarh has been converted into a double lane road by Border Roads Organisation (BRO). in May last year. This new road reduces the earlier five day trek to two days of road travel now, thus saving six days.
The road from Ghatiabgarh to Lipulekh is now under construction and is expected to be completed by 2023. This road was approved in 2005 at a cost of Rs 80.76 crore and was revised in 2018 with a revised cost of Rs 439.40 crore.This construction is significant to India for strategic and tactical reasons. The road via Pithoragarh will ensure that most of the Kailash Yatra is within Indian territory.
