Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said during a program on Tuesday that work on hundreds of green expressways, tunnels and ropeways is going on in the country.
Even before this, the names of many highways and roads are included in his records. However, during his tenure, he said his favorite work was something else.
During a discussion at News18’s Rising India Summit, Gadkari said, ‘When I became minister in 2014, at least one crore people were pulling others on bicycles or hand rickshaws.
I brought a mechanized e-rickshaw. Now I am happy that one crore people were saved from such actions. They are driving e-carts or e-rickshaws. I have built many express highways, roads and tunnels, but this work is my favourite.
He informed that in the last 10 years, projects worth Rs 50 lakh crore have been given for the improvement of India’s roads.
During the program, he said that the ministry is spending Rs 2 lakh crore to build 36 green expressways and tunnels, which are spread over an area of more than 284 km. Besides, 260 ropeway projects are also ongoing.
In the year 2015, Lok Sabha had passed the e-rickshaw bill. Since then, the use of e-rickshaws has increased rapidly in many small and big cities.
According to media reports, the government has also provided low interest loans to people from poor, backward and minority communities to buy e-rickshaws.