Nitin Gadkari, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister's one week US Trip                  to attract billions of dollars in Foreign Investment in the crucial infrastructure sector in India

Indian govt to borrow technology from LA to build highways

New York/New Jersey NRIs Gave a Grand Reception to  Nitin Gadkari

New Jersey/Jul 13, 2016

NRI community of New York / New Jersey area gave a grand welcome reception to the visiting Honorable Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways, and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday July 12th, 2016 at Royal Albert’s Palace, Fords, New Jersey. This grand community outreach program was organized by Overseas Friends of Bharatiya Janata Party (OFBJP) - USA

"We were delighted to sponsor the event of Honorable Minister Gadkri with Overseas Friends of BJP President Shri Krishna Reddy and Past-President Shri Jayesh Patel," said  Anil Monga who is running Dream & Beauty Charitable Trust- Heavenly Palace, Care for the elderly."Also with us was Chairman of FIA Ramesh Patel and Past-President Mr. Ankur Vaidya. In attendance were hundreds of enthusiastic supporters who joined us in welcoming our distinguished guests."

Anil Monga further said, "In line with Honorable Minister Gadkri's vision for India to eliminate poverty and private sector investment in infrastructure, we have been working on the same wavelength for the last two decades to eliminate poverty. Read More about Heavenly Palace, click here

Addressing a huge gathering of Indian Diaspora, Shri Nitin Gadkari said that he was happy to be amongst the Diaspora and humbled by their love for the motherland.  India under the able leadership of Shri Narendra Modi is marching forward rapidly and has become a bright spot among the world economies in a short span of two years.  Past governments with the exception of Shri Vajpayee led NDA have ruined India and corruption had become the hallmark of their governance.  Many scams have made the people of our country depressed and disappointed.  Congress party has become synonymous with corruption. Poverty and unemployment were on the rise and there was stagnation in all industrial sectors.  This is when Modi led NDA got an overwhelming majority in 2014 after three decades.  This was the beginning of corruption free and transparent governance that’s taking India by storm, he said.

Nitin Gadkari said, that Infrastructure is the key to any country’s progress and Shri Narendra Modi entrusted the key portfolio of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping to him keeping in mind the great work he had done during his tenure as the PWD minister in Maharashtra.  Since then, he has been working with a missionary zeal  and made great progress.  The national highway construction has gone up from 2kms/day to 20kms/day.  He has taken up an ambitious target of taking national highways from 96,000kms to 2 lakh kms and has already reached 1.55 lakhs kms. 

Citing the progress on many road projects in India, Shri Gadkari mentioned that the Delhi-Meerut highway when completed would reduce the travel time from three and a half hours to mere 50 min.  The Delhi ring road project which is in progress has a tight deadline of 400 days and once completed will not only reduce congestion but also will bring down air pollution by 50%.  The Delhi-Katara highway will reduce travel time by four and half hours.  Citing the list of several other road projects like Badrinath/Kedarnath, Bangalore/Chennai/Hyderabad etc., Shri Gadkari mentioned that after completion, these projects will transform India. 

Another ambitious and visionary step taken by his ministry is the development of Inland waterways that will transform the transporation resulting in savings worth thousands of crores.  Allahabad – Haldia waterways, and waterways on Brahmaputra will open many avenues for not only movement of goods and services but also for tourism and new jobs.  The Chabahar port in Iran is being built by India and once completed will become the gateway for new markets in Asia, Russia and other countries.  The Sagarmala project that connects the ports with road/rail will transform India and the 27 Industrial clusters that are being planned will make India a leader in manufacturing too.

Stating that funds were never an issue for these ambitious projects, he mentioned that during his tenure as PWD minister in Maharashtra he had a starting outlay of rupees 5 crore at his disposal but was able to complete infrastructure works worth rupees 8000 crore.  This shows that all we needed was an honest leader with a vision and things will fall in their place and we can achieve any goal we set for ourselves.  

India had seen the rule of several ideologies like Socialism/Samajwad and Liberal and they all have failed in their mission.  The dynastic rule has ruined the country and several states.  Except for BJP all the other parties are person and family based without any ideology and have taken the country backwards.  Shri Gadkari recollected that during emergency he used to stick posters and distribute flyers as an ordinary volunteer but went on to become the National President of BJP, this shows that BJP is a party with difference and values its cadre. 

The three distinct features of BJP party’s ideology are Nationalism, Good Governance & Development and e-Governance.  It is a party that believes in the concept of Antyodaya and Integral Humanism of Late Shri Deen Dayal Upadhyay which considers poorest of the poor as gods and their upliftment is paramount to the party.  He reiterated that the party is committed to ensure the benefits of development reach the last man in the social strata. 

Shri Gadkari congratulated the Indian Diaspora for their achievements and contributions in the fields of IT, Medicine, engineering and other sectors here in US.  He invited the Diaspora to share their ideas and knowledge, and the government will extend help in every possible way.  He said that NRI’s have excelled in many areas but at the same time they had not left their Indian values.  It is these values, family system, traditions which are based on the Hindu philosophy and made them strong wherever they went.  He stressed the need for treasuring India’s age old traditions and sciences like Yoga, Ayurveda as these will help everyone make better future citizens and also make India a Vishwa guru (world leader) in future.  He said under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi the march has already begun and very soon India will be the brightest spot in the world.  Shri Nitin Gadkari’s speech was marked by several rounds of applause throughout and he received a standing ovation after his speech.

Earlier, Shri Aravind Modini (National Convener, External Communications) welcomed the audience.  After the traditional lighting of the lamp and rendition of United States and Indian national anthems, President Krishna Reddy spoke briefly on the various activities of OFBJP in USA. He stressed on the reaching out to the US law makers, think tanks and Indian Diaspora and making them familiar with the achievements of the Narendra Modi led NDA government.  He mentioned that OFBJP was actively involved in taking up the issues NRI’s face here with the right channel and help find solutions to them.  Shri Krishna Reddy invited the audience to connect with OFBJP as it is the best platform available to serve our motherland and also to work for the welfare of the Indian Diaspora.

Shri Nitin Gadkari felicitated Shri Krishna Reddy who recently took over the reins of OFBJP as its new President.  Shri Jayesh Patel (Past President) appealed to the audience to connect with OFBJP and work for the welfare of NRI’s and diaspora.  Shri R.P. Singh (former Org. Secretary) introduced Shri Nitin Gadkari to the audience. Smt. Nilima Madan (General Secretary) presented the vote of thanks and recognized several community leaders and sponsors who were present there which included many prominent personalities from the diaspora. 

Some of the sponsors included Shri Navin Mehta, Shri Vinod Kodur, Shri Anil Monga, Shri Albert Jasani, Smt. Shobana Patel, Shri Atma Singh. Community leaders Dr. Yelloji Rao Mirajkar (HSS) and Gaurang Vaishnav (VHPA) also attended the event.  Several OFBJP National Council members, active members and volunteers who had worked hard to make the program a big success were notably mentioned during the vote of thanks.  The attendees enjoyed a tasteful dinnerthat was served before the start of the program.......OFBJP 

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                  Nitin Gadkari takes a road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles:

Minister of Road Transport, Highways & Shipping Shri Nitin Gadkari undertook a coastal drive by road from San Francisco to Los Angeles to gain first-hand experience of the latest techniques in road engineering, highway construction, road signage and other effective measures for road safety along this prestigious ocean route. On the last leg of his week-long official visit to the US, Shri Gadkari left San Francisco early in the morning yesterday by road and completed the journey in ten hours covering a distance of 800 Kms in the winding hilly terrain, thick forests and some desert patches along the west coast overseeing the pacific ocean.

 Shri Gadkari said the idea behind undertaking this tedious journey was to understand the technology, machinery and construction material being used by the transportation department and other local agencies in the US in constructing and maintaining the amazing overhangs and cliffs along the difficult coastline and the innovative engineering involved in the improvement of projects both on and off the highway system. The Road Transport & Highways Minister is currently engaged in constructing national highways in the difficult terrains of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, the North-Eastern region and Himalayas- from Pithoragarh to Mansarovar and from Haridwar to Gangotri, Yamunotri, and Badrinath & Kedarnath.

Shri Gadkari said he was impressed by the tunneling technology and the lovely scenic spots along the curves on the highways and coastal roads which have been converted into centres of tourist attraction with road side amenities like restaurants, shops, entertainment facilities and camping sites. He was told that most of California's highways are more than a half-century old and carry nearly half of the nation's goods traffic. Heavy loads pound California's highways more than any other state and sustain 190 billion vehicle kms travelled in 2015

Shri Gadkari appreciated the projects being undertaken for repairing bumpy pavements, preserving roads that are in good condition from deteriorating and upgrading bridges to make them safer and stronger. He also witnessed widening of hard shoulders and installation of drainage, relocation of utility, and realignment of local road intersections along the route he travelled along with a team of senior officials from his ministry.These highways and coastal roads are regularly maintained and upgraded with crash barriers, signage to make all weather travel safe  Gadkari was told.
 The Minister also witnessed improved safety measures such as metal screens and mesh along the hilly terrain to prevent landslides hitting the roads, road markings, proper signage with adequate warning signals. SOS call boxes being run with solar panels.He was informed that maintenance staff works day and night to keep the highways clear and safe for all motorists. They do patching pavement, replacing signs, striping lanes, clearing vegetation, removing trash and graffiti.
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                          Gadkari seeks Indian-American participation in start-up movement

 Silicon Valley, July 17, 2016

Union minister Nitin Gadkari urged the Silicon Valley professionals of Indian-origin to participate in India's Start-up Movement to help make it a success.

The government's revolutionary policy initiatives have brought about a lot of positivity among the entrepreneurs across the globe and today India has the world's third largest number of start-ups, said Gadkari, who is Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister.

He was addressing a series of meetings organised over the last two days by various outfits of professionals of Indian-origin based in Silicon Valley in Northern California state of the United States, said an official statement here.

Those he addressed included Global Indian Technology Professionals Association (GITPRO) and TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) US Chapter.

The minister sought the participation of the Indian origin professionals of the Silicon Valley, so that they could take advantage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious policy initiative of "Ease of doing Business" and contribute to the success of "Make in India".

He urged the professionals to bring their innovations and technologies to India in key sectors of the economy, particularly in the infrastructure sector like roads transport, highways and shipping as well as in the road safety programmes. ...IANS
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The OFBJP-Los Angeles aims to support the objectives established by OFBJP USA

July 10, 2016

/NRIpress.club

• Nitin Gadkari  will arrive on July 10, 2016, Sunday on a week- long official visit to accelerate bilateral cooperation with the US to attract billions of dollars in Foreign Direct Investment.
• Nitin Gadkari along with his delegation will give presentations on inland waterways development,  port-led development, and highway infrastructure. 
• Meeting in Washington for window into India’s Infrastructure Development’ organized by Atlantic Council.
• Meeting in New York with J P Morgan, Goldman Sachs and US Indian Business Council
• To attract USD 50-60 billion FDI for infrastructure
• To attract USD 100 billion towards industrial development- port-led economic growth in the maritime sector/ coastal and cruise shipping/, solar and wind energy generation/ water transport and inland waterways.