If roads could talk, they’d probably be chanting “Modi hai toh mumkin hai.” At the Road and Highways Summit held in Delhi today, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs and Road, Transport & Highways, Harsh Malhotra, announced that India is not just paving roads — it’s paving the future.
Addressing a gathering of infrastructure aficionados, policy wonks, and highway romantics, the Minister declared that under the dual-engine turbocharged leadership of PM Narendra Modi and Highway Supremo Nitin Gadkari, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has gone from “slow lane” to “autobahn mode.”
From a modest 91,000 km in 2014 to a roaring 1.46 lakh km today, India’s National Highway network is now the second-largest in the world — second only to the USA, and just a few exits away from global dominance. “These highways are not just roads; they are arteries of development, lifelines of connectivity, and the GPS coordinates of progress,” said Malhotra, poetically but with purpose.
Highlighting the fiscal horsepower behind this surge, the Minister revealed that road infrastructure spending has grown by a Formula 1-worthy 6.4 times between 2013–14 and 2024–25. In simpler terms: your tax money has been working overtime — in high-vis jackets and steel-toe boots.
The results? Apart from smoother rides and faster food delivery, MoRTH’s highway spree has created over 634 crore man-days of employment — direct, indirect, and the kind of work that gets your cousin a contract without a website.
Special attention has been paid to the oft-overlooked North East, where over 10,000 km of national highways have been built in the past decade. “We’re ensuring that even clouds in Meghalaya find it easier to commute,” the Minister quipped.
Closer to the capital, the Delhi Decongestion Plan aims to do what generations of Dilliwalas deemed impossible — unclog traffic without divine intervention. Expressway extensions, tunnels under Mahipalpur, and connections to Katra and Dehradun are in the works. It’s not just a plan; it’s a logistical love letter to Delhi’s battered steering wheels.
Meanwhile, the Ministry is also cooking up 700+ Wayside Amenities across the country — so the next time nature calls or your toddler screams for paneer butter masala, there’ll be a clean stop, fuel, and even EV charging on standby. India’s highways are finally getting their version of a spa day.
But that’s not all. With 14,000 blackspots rectified, road safety has taken the wheel. From the Good Samaritan Scheme to the Cashless Golden Hour Scheme, even accidents are being treated with speed, sensitivity, and less paperwork (well, almost).
For those wondering about the environment amid all the asphalt, Malhotra had numbers ready: over 4.78 crore trees planted, 70,000 trees transplanted, 80 lakh tonnes of plastic reused, and fly ash flying into good use. Mother Earth, it seems, now shares a PIN code with MoRTH.
In closing, Malhotra summed up the government’s vision: “We’re not just building roads; we’re building a resilient, revenue-generating, employment-spawning, pollution-busting Bharat.” And with every kilometer laid, 2047’s Viksit Bharat dream gets a little closer — preferably with cruise control on.
So buckle up, Bharat. The journey to 2047 is smooth, scenic, and, for once, might just arrive on time.
