New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat met Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari, in New Delhi on Tuesday and thanked him for his cooperation in the development of road connectivity in the state. At the request of Rawat, Gadkari agreed to the approval of Rs 48 crore for the road project of the Dehradun Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT).

Gadkari said, "Nearly Rs 225 crore have been approved for the construction of Rudraprayag tunnel and necessary action has been started on this project."

Gadkari agreed to help solve the problem of traffic jams in Jogiwala on the Haridwar-Dehradun NH and asked the state government to send its proposal soon.

Rawat said, "Rishikesh-Bhaniawala Motor Marg is the short link route in the Char Dham Yatra. Jolly Grant Airport is also situated between Rishikesh-Bhaniawala. Currently, it is only a two-lane route. Given the importance of this route, I have requested Nitin Gadkari to declare it a national highway."

Rawat said, "In principle approval has been accorded to declare six highways (total length 524 km) in Uttarakhand as National Highways. These include Laxmanjhula-Dugadda-Nainidanda-Mohan-Ranikhet (274 km), Panduwakhal-Nagchulakhal-Uffrainkhal-Baijro. (64 km), Khairna-Ranikhet (34 km), Buba Khal-Devprayag (49 km), Devprayag-Gaja-Khadi (70 km) and Biharigarh-Roshanabad (33 km)."

The Chief Minister has requested these six highways to be notified as National Highways at the earliest.

Uttarakhand Principal Secretary RK Sudhanshu, State Secretary Radhika Jha, Parag Madhukar Dhakate, Special Secretary to the Chief Minister, and officials of the Central government were present at the meeting.