Kanyakumari, February 2
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today said the ambitious Golden Quadrilateral and north-south and east-west corridor projects envisaging super highways were being completed at an unprecedented speed.
Speaking at the bhoomipoojan function for four-laning of the Kanyakumari-Panagudi on the north-south corridor of the national highway project here, he said besides the two important projects, the Centre had also taken up the development of 10,000 km of roads under the Pradhan Mantri's Bharath Jodo Programme.
Mr Vajpayee, sharing the platform with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for the first time after the BJP and AIADMK clinched an electoral pact for the Lok Sabha elections, praised the state government for its co-operation in implementing the projects.
The function virtually turned out to be the flagging-off of the NDA's election campaign in this southern most tip of the country with the Prime Minister emphasising on the progress made by the country during the past five years of NDA rule.
"We have given stability and good governance for five years. Our nation is strong both in security and development and has become one of the fastest growing economies in the world," Mr Vajpayee said. Development of national highways in the country was one among the various such developmental initiatives taken up by the Centre. "Roads are like the lines on the palm and it determines the destiny of the country," he said.
The road project initiated by the Centre would connect all major cities in the country, he said, adding that there would not be a single state capital or major city which was not linked by the superhighway of international standards.
Addressing a public meeting organised by the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP at Nagercoil, the Prime Minister said by 2007 any one would be able to travel by rail or highway from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. "The Railways will roll into the Kashmir valley on August 15, 2007," he declared.
— PTI, UNI
