Bharat Mala: PM Modi's Plan to Connect East and West

BANGALORE: Following the footsteps of Atal Bihari Vajpayee who built the Golden Quadrilateral, PM Modi is all set to build Bharat Mala.

Modi Government’s undertaking Bharat Mala will be a road that would connect the western and eastern extreme of the nation. The road would extend from Gujarat to Mizoram and the construction cost would sum up to 14,000 crore.  The roadway would be linked through the states of Maharashtra, Bengal and many other coastal states. The road would appear as a garland on the nation’s map which contributed to the name ‘Bharat Mala’, reports ET.

"Our idea is to plan for a structured programme for building roads along our borders, especially the northern borders. And yes, we are calling it Bharat Mala," said Vijay Chhibber, Union Roads Secretary.  Once the clearance is in place the project is expected to start working this year. Modi’s government is still working on the on the detailed project reports.

The plan work has been initiated that would evaluate the present network and would require laying down road of 5,300 km that would envelop the extremes of western and eastern India.

The project is estimated to take up 5 years for completion and would start from the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan followed by Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand - and then parts of borders of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and then to Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, up till the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur and Mizoram.

The Bharat Mala plan comes along with strong and influential economic and strategic element attached to it that would improve the connectivity and infrastructure of the nation. The plan has been designed considering the current poor quality of roads that make deliveries to the military troops on the border areas. The development would be beneficial for the Indian economy as the road would connect lesser economically active states.

The road construction plan is unlikely to witness any difficulties with the funding, however the land acquisition and environmental clearances might pose as a problem.

Furthermore, Bharat Mala would link up with yet another plan Sagar Mala connecting the ports and coastal regions.

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