Gadkari can laugh off Modi's achhe din, but his own ministry is a joke

Minister of road transport, highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari is spot on. The promise of "achhe din", Narendra Modi's 2014 election-winning jumla, has become a milestone around the government's neck.

One of the most outspoken and, some say, one of the best performing ministers in the Modi government, Gadkari said it jokingly, the press reported, the other day. But he might have just stated a bitter reality.

"It is a bone stuck in our throat. Our country is such an ocean of dissatisfied souls that acche dinnever come... media should not misinterpret me... Those who have cycles want scooters, and those who have scooters want cars. It is not wrong, but the wealthy are dissatisfied too."

Besides stating that the phrase "achhe din" was not Modi's but Manmohan Singh's coinage, Gadkari in lighter vein exposed the serious challenges before the government - a challenge that is Modi's own creation.

One needs to take Gadkari seriously. The minister too need not laugh off the challenges. After having raised the people's expectations sky high, the government has to deliver on its promises or earn the voters' wrath. Unfulfilled promises have one and only consequences - rout in the 2019 elections.

Gadkari has to look at the performance of his own ministry handling roads and highways before laughing off the promise of heralding good days for the people as routine election rhetoric. His record, especially in the highway construction area doesn't inspire confidence. The minister has been caught in the past undermining the performance of the previous UPA government and exaggerating the Modi government's performance in this particular area.

Soon after he took over, Gadkari claimed that the pace of road construction during the UPA government was just 2km per day. He boasted to increase the pace up to 30 km per day. However, a reality check and the government 's own data presented in Parliament shows that in 2013-14 under the UPA the pace of construction was nearly 12km per day.

IndiaSpend's fact check also reported in August that 'average pace of road construction was around 12 km per day under UPA-2 (2009-14), which reached 16 km per day in the year 2012-13. It's true in 2015-16 under Gadkari the pace increased to 17 km per day. But Gadkari's claim that the UPA 2 was building 2 km road per day is false. The fact is the UPA's performance was 200 per cent more than what Gadkari said. The minister's boast that he would take the pace up to 20 times more than what the UPA had done is equally untrue. The NDA's performance in 2015-16 was slight better than the UPA.

This is as far as the cold statistics goes.

This writer's own recent experience doesn't bear out the minister's tall claim. Forget the fast or tardy pace of construction for a moment. The condition of the highways is not what the minister would like the people to believe.

I drove last month in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Bihar. The road conditions were not as good as they were a few years ago. One could see the obvious lack of maintenance. After the removal of toll plazas, the stakeholders have evidently neglected road maintenance.

Driving on National Highway 28A in Bihar that connects Patna to Raxual on Nepal border is shocking experience. It takes one almost three hours to travel from Motihari, the district town on Nepal border, to Raxual, a distance of just over 50km.

The stretch from Piprakothi to Raxaul, a distance of 62 km, has been seven years in the making. The new deadline for the completion of construction is 2017. According to NHAI and local officials, the completion got delayed due to technical reasons and problems relating to the construction company.

Why I mention the pathetic condition of this particular road because the NH 28A connecting Patna and Lucknow to Kathmandu carries the bulk of the goods passing from India to Nepal. It's a lifeline for the people living in the foothills of Nepal bordering Bihar, who are dependent on supply of gasoline, foodstuffs, medicine and so many other essential goods through the highway. Besides, the government can't lose sight of its strategic importance.

I watched hundreds of trucks snaking their way at less than 10 km per hour through mud and slush. There was no sign of work in progress on the half-finished road with dozens of diversions for construction of bridges. One could see over dozen of broken down trucks on a stretch of less than 50km.

During the months-long turmoil on account of Madhesis' agitation, when Nepal accused India of having imposed road-blockade, thousands of trucks carrying goods waited on the road side that had no eateries and places to rest for the crew.

The importance of 28 A and its dilapidated condition came under scanner of the Modi government after the April 2015 Nepal earthquake. Rescue operations and supply of relief materials for the victims of the quake that included large number of Indians posed enormous problems owing to the bad conditions of the roads.

Where is Mr Gadkari? Can he justify his tall claims on road construction if his ministry can't complete a small stretch of a National Highway of strategic importance?

His half-serious admission that the "achhe din" promise has become a milestone around the Modi government's neck will become a reality if he doesn't perform.