Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Nitin Gadkari, spoke to The Daily Guardian on the day of the Union Budget about the renewed focus of the government on building infrastructure.
Q: How do you see this budget for your ministry?
A: Spending on infrastructure is going to create more liquidity in the market, contribute to GDP growth and also create more employment. This new infrastructure will be the gold standard. For the first time in India’s history, the finance ministry has given the highest priority for this particular sector.
Q: The Opposition is saying that the government is pushing all public sectors towards privatisation.
A: We have a big challenge because we are not a very rich country but people expect nothing less than express highways. Let me give you the example of a city like Mumbai. We have to construct 55 flyovers in Mumbai, work on the Worli-Bandra Sea Link and also the Mumbai-Pune express highway. We can’t spend too much of the government’s money on this, but now due to private players, we have also been completing these projects in record time. Otherwise, it would have taken us 50 years, if we were to stick to the union budget. It is important to create infrastructure and use different economic models like PPP, NUT, TOT and others. It is a new economic outlook for the country.
Q: The key issue right now seems to be the farmers who are protesting. Do you think the government has done enough to elevate their fears?
A: Rs 15 lakh crore have been set aside for priority sectors like agriculture, fisheries and dairy. We have already given over Rs 3.50 lakh crore to the farmers because the market price and the international price are less than the MSP. We are following the Swaminathan Committee recommendations and declaring the MSP of agriculture crops every year. We are giving money for that from the government budget. The government is doing its best for the farmers but there are some people who are trying to confuse the farmers, which is what is happening around us nowadays.