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BY•RAHUL TIWARI

The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) is the largest express highway project in India launched by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee had laid the foundation stone of the project on January 6, 1999.

It is the first phase of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), and consists of building 5,846 kilometers of four/six lane express highways connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai (thus forming a quadrilateral of sorts), at a cost of Rs. 60,000 crores (US$ 12.317 billion) (at 1999 prices) (Rs 580 billion).

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This highway will interconnect many major cities and ports.

It will give an impetus to truck transport throughout India.

It will give an impetus to truck transport throughout India.

It will provide vast opportunities for transport of agricultural produce from the hinterland to major cities and ports for export.

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It will provide job opportunities in its construction as well as demand for cement, steel and other construction materials.

The largest-ever highway project seeking to connect the four corners of the country as well as the four metropolitan cities with world class roads and uninterrupted traffic flow.

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• THE EFFECT OF GOLDEN QUADRILATRAL HAS BEEN SUPERB ON THE ECONOMY OF GUJARAT. • HERE WE ARE NOT LOOKING OVER THE WHOLE PARTS OF GUJARAT, WE ARE TAKING ONLY TWO VILLAGES.

• THESE VILLAGE ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1-VISHRAPURA 2-VARU

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• THE EFFCT OF GOLDEN CORRIDOR CAN BE MEASURED DIRECTLY FROM THE UPTHRUST IN THE LIVING STATUS OF THESE SOILS. •THESE PLACES ARE NOT KNOWN FOR THEIR INDUSTRIAL ASPECT BUT THEY ARE DEPENDANT ON THE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION WHICH HAS BEEN VERY NORMAL BEFORE THE GOLDEN CORRIDOR PROJECT. • NOW, AGRICULTURE IN THESE VILLAGES ARE HAVING A HONEYMOON PHASE. 

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•WE MEAN TO SAY THAT THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN PROVED TO BE BOON FOR THESE VILLAGES WHICH CAN BE PROVED BY THIS THAT THEY ARE USING THE MOST EFFICIANT AND HIGHLY MODERN TOOL OF AGRICULTURE WHICH IS DRIP IRRIGATION, THE MICRO IRRIGATION.

•THIS HAS BEEN MADE REAL ONLY DUE TO INTERVENTION OF G.Q. BY FORMER PRIME MINISTER MR. ATAL BIHARI VAJPAYEE. THIS PERSONALITY HAS GIVEN THOUSAND VILLAGES, EVERY REASON TO SMILE. 

THIS DRIP IRRIGATION IS THE MOST WATER SAVING TECHNOLOGY OF THE AGRICULTURAL WORLD BECAUSE HERE WATER PENETRATES TO THE ROOTS OF THE PLANT DIRECTLY WITHOUT UNNECESSARY USE IN THE UPPER-REGION WHICH HAS BEEN SEEN IN THE OLD IRRIGATION PATTERN .

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• NOW, ANYONE CAN GET ANY AMOUNT OF FERTILISERS WITHIN FEW HOURS AFTER GIVING THE ORDER.

•THE N.P.K . RATIO BEFORE THE INTERVENTION OF G.Q. HAS BEEN VERY NORMAL LIKE 54 K.G. PER HECTRE. PER FARMER. NOW, IT IS A HUGE UPTHRUST IN THE CONSUMPTIVITY AFTER THE INTERVENTION OF G.Q..  • THE CONSUMPTION OF N.P.K RATIO AFTER G.Q. IN VISHRMPURA 89 KG PER HECTRE PER CAPITA IS (64 %) UPTHRUST.

  

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•THE CONCEPT OF G.Q HAS BEEN TAKEN FROM CHICAGO OF AMERICA BUT IT IS WORKNG TO ITS BEST IN INDIA. AND THESE VILLAGES ARE PROVING THIS CORRECT. •NOW THE FARMERS CAN UPLOAD THEIR CROP TO THE NEAREST MANDI VERY EASILY COMPARATIVELY THE FORMER TIME.NOW THESE VILLAGES ARE EARNING ENORMOUSLY,BECAUSE OF THE BETTER TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES,WHICH IN THEIR RANGE OF HANDS.

The government has officially announced that it would be finishing the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), the first phase of the national highway development programme (NHDP) by December 2006.

In the projections under the outcome budget released on Thursday, the ministry for road transport and highways has said that it would finish up gradation of all 5,846 km of highways under GQ by December 2006, that, is a year after the official deadline of its completion — December 2005.

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The ministry had been saying all along that it would be able to finish only 92% of the project by December 2005.

As on July 31, 2005, it has finished four-laning of 4,944 km of national highways, while 902 km are under implementation.

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Significantly, however, the ministry has also projected that it would wrap the second phase of NHDP, the north-south east-west (NSEW) by its official deadline of December 2007.

This is contrary to the current scenario, wherein the government has completed four-laning of only 777 km of national highways, out of the total of 7,300 km under the scheme, as on July 31, 2005. Stretches totaling 2,766 km are still under implementation.

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The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had terminated eight contracts, seven of them last year itself. These contracts pertained to important stretches of NHDP and even ministry sources have said that this development has greatly hampered the progress of NHDP.

Moreover, as the entire process of issuing fresh contracts takes as long as six months, and keeping in mind the current rate of progress, sources say that NSEW would be wrapped up only by middle of 2008.

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The ministry has also projected that during the current fiscal, it plans to spend Rs 8,800 crore for the development of national highways during the current fiscal.

While it has spent Rs 1,760 crore between April 1-June 30, 2005 (Q1), it would be spending Rs 2,200 crore, Rs 2,640 crore, and Rs 2,200 crore during the second, third and fourth quarters of the current fiscal respectively.

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The National Highways Authority of India has produced statistics to indicate that, as of September 2007, 96% of the entire work has been completed.

For example, the statistics indicate that the Delhi to Mumbai section is 100% complete, whereas in reality there are a number of sections which are still single carriageway and in very poor repair (for example the stretch to Ahmadabad in Gujarat).

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The GQ project is managed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways. The Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the first controlled-access toll road to be built in India is a part of the GQ Project though not funded by NHAI.

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) has been one of the major contributors to the infrastructural development activity in the GQ project.

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• Three industrial estates in Gujarat - Ankleshwar, Nandesari and Vapi - as "global toxic hotspots’ for the highly toxic chemical pollutants and wastes these generate.

•About 20 Greenpeace activists accompanied by local community representatives marched to a wastewater outfall connected to the common effluent treatment plant at Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation, Vapi, and posted warning signs declaring me area contaminated with industrial poison that could cause severe threat to life and environment

The environmental survey focused on analysing samples of treated and untreated industrial wastewater, sediment samples from rivers and common effluent treatment plants. The four industrial estates declared global toxic hotspots are now among the 34 around the world.

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