Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari often receives compliments from MPs cutting across party lines for his ministry’s performance and the way he replies to questions in Parliament. On Thursday, the first question to him was about the works on NH-15 in Punjab. The first supplementary question came from National Conference’s Hasnain Masoodi on the possibility of an elevated road on NH-4 in J&K and the next came from Congress’s Deepak Baij, who wanted to know if there will be a road connecting Raipur-Jagadalpur-Visakhapatnam. Hearing the questions, Gadkari addressed the Speaker: “Sir, the question started on Punjab, then went to Kashmir and now reached Visakhapatnam and Odisha…” The Speaker smiled and replied, “Now coming, Uttar Pradesh.” The next question was on toll plazas in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district by BSP’s Danish Ali. There were also questions on road projects in Bihar and Maharashtra.
New Assignment
Arindam Bagchi, who is Joint Secretary (North) in the Ministry of External Affairs and looks after India’s relationship with Nepal and Bhutan, is expected to become the ministry’s next official spokesperson. Bagchi has served in the Prime Minister’s Office in the Manmohan Singh government and had also served in Sri Lanka as the deputy high commissioner. Anurag Srivastava, who is the current spokesperson, will possibly take up Bagchi’s position as Joint Secretary (North).
Water Attaché
Days ahead of the International Water Day on March 22, Israel has announced the appointment of a Water Attaché in its embassy in India. Dr Lior Asaf, a hydrogeologist from Israel, has been selected as the first Water Attaché to India. He will be posted in Delhi and will work for cooperation in water management India including. India and Israel have defined water as a strategic area of cooperation and have signed a memorandum of understanding.