Opposition is Against Development, Says Union Minister Nitin Gadkari

Kolhapur: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today attacked the opposition saying it stalled Land Acquisition Bill as they are opposed to development.

Addressing the BJP state Executive on the concluding day in Kolhapur, the Transport Minister said the decision to remove the consent clause and social impact assessment clause from the Bill was taken after due consideration, especially on defence and security.

However, he felt, the opposition parties are stalling the Land Acquisition Bill in Parliament, because they are opposed to development.

"We have removed the consent clause and the Social impact assessment taking into consideration several points. One of them was defence and security," he said.

On the occasion, Mr Gadkari promised to build roads worth Rs 1 lakh crore in Maharashtra and said there is no dearth of funds with the government.

"I give my word that I will build roads worth Rs 1 lakh crore in Maharashtra. There is no shortage of money with us. The government has a lot of money," he said.

"Our aim is to build houses for all by 2022. How will we build homes if there is no land? Also, we want to develop an industrial corridor in rural areas so that youth can get employment and they are not forced to come to cities to find work," Mr Gadkari said.

Raising the concern of escalating fuel prices, he said ethanol can be a good substitute for petrol and diesel to reduce pollution and that it will also reduce the country's import bills considerably.

"In foreign countries, vehicles use 85 per cent of ethanol and 15 per cent petrol. Since, the condition of sugar factories isn't good anyway, selling ethanol will benefit them immensely. Also, we can use 100 per cent ethanol for cars, buses and trucks. This will also reduce our import bills and pollution levels," he said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on the occasion said while he was in Cochin a few days back, he asked officials concerned to build a sea plane as an experiment that could ferry 90 people at a time, within six months.

Mr Gadkari alleged that agricultural growth rate in Maharashtra has been in the negative due to corrupt practices of the previous government.

He said that around 70 per cent of rain water goes back into the sea as there is no proper information on how to conserve rain water.

"There is a lot of rainwater. Water can be provided 24 hours for farming use. We only need to spread awareness on conserving water," he said.

The Minister urged BJP workers to concentrate on unorganised sector and ensure that they become a part of the insurance schemes recently launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.