If the proposal put forward by the Gujarat government is accepted by the Union government, people from Surat and South Gujarat will be directly connected by road to Kolkata in the near future.
The objective of constructing a direct express highway between the two cities is to boost trade and commerce between them.
To provide connectivity to important cities, the Centre plans to develop a national expressway network of 18,637 km. It has asked all state governments to submit their requirements, if any, to the ministry concerned.
The Gujarat government has forwarded a proposal to construct a 1,760-km- long expressway from Surat to Kolkata via Nagpur and Raipur. This will pass through all important cities, apart from directly connecting two important business centres of India. Apart from Surat and Kolkata, the state government has proposed three other expressways in the state - Ahmedabad -Rajkot (215 km), Bamanbore-Kandla (210 km) and Ahmedabad-Ratlam (350 km).
"The proposals are necessary for the industrial development of the state. Proper connectivity to particular industrial zones and SEZs can double the growth of the region. We are trying our level best to get our proposals accepted," said state transport minister Ranjit Gilitwala.
According to him, a direct road between Surat and Kolkata can help boost trade between the two cities which are both hubs for textiles and have ports and industrial zones. A direct link could create a large number of opportunities at both ends.
While the state government is interested in a direct road link, the central government too is keen on realising the project. According to sources, 2,871 km of expressway will pass through Gujarat, apart from the Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor and Delhi-Mumbai special express highway.
Tushar Chaudhary, minister of state for highways in the union government, also agreed that a direct expressway would be very beneficial. However, he claimed that his ministry had not received any such proposal till now from the Gujarat government.
"If the highway is created, it will be helpful for all states through which it passes. But as far as I can recall, no such proposal has been forwarded to our department. We have started work on many highway proposals in the state. I have to check ministry sources to find out the current position of four expressway proposals," Chaudhary added.
