Nitin Gadkari reiterates dream to take boat down Nag river, make Nagpur greenest city

NAGPUR: Union minister Nitin Gadkari once again reiterated his dream of travelling down the Nag river on a boat, from Ambazari lake to Pardi. He also announced 6-laning of Nagpur-Butibori Road, and promised to make Nagpur the greenest city in the next five years.
Speaking at the inauguration of Butibori flyover on Thursday, he said the administration would soon start work on Rs 2,200 crore project to rejuvenate and beautify the iconic river. He added though people usually didn’t believe what he says, he has proved them wrong every time, and the same would happen with the historic river in the next two to three years.

“I’ve always fulfilled what I promised. I’ve asked the civic administration to beautify the riverfront so that it could become a tourist spot where people can visit in the evening and feast on their favourite snacks like panipuri and bhelpuri, besides boating. There would be ports at regular intervals where water taxis would ferry passengers. It would be a new way for commuting from one place to another just like buses and metro.”
Announcing that Nagpur-Butibori Road would be expanded to six lanes, the city MP called on public representatives in Butibori to prepare a blueprint for the town's development.
“It should have a stadium and playgrounds to promote sporting activities. Prepare a development scheme and I will support you in all endeavours. During the BJP-led government, then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and ex-guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule had allotted Rs50 crore for development of sports in Nagpur. I’ve planned to make 107 sporting stadiums in the city so over a lakh youths would play in the evenings.”
Declaring he would adopt Butibori Municipal Council for development as a model, he called for a good hospital, with all facilities, including ventilators. “The public representatives should make efforts to make Butibori the number one municipal council in Maharashtra, and I will help you in this. I’ve decided to make Nagpur the greenest city in the next five years, now it’s your responsibility to keep Butibori green by reducing air and sound pollution, and planting trees.”
Stressing on the need for the flyover at Butibori, he pointed out that the junction often witnessed severe traffic congestion and had led to over 100 deaths in accidents. “There was a court stay on the project. I appreciate the efforts of MLA Sameer Meghe, who was behind it since 2014, and removed the stay. The flyover will facilitate smooth traffic at the junction. It’s very aesthetically designed and I’ve told NHAI officials to undertake landscaping under it to prevent encroachment. I’ve also told them to paint it with a product made from cow dung by Khadi Gramodyog, which is available at half the price of regular paint.”
Adding that he would be inaugurating beautification work of 4.45km flyover in front of Liberty Talkies on Friday, the minister said it was painted by students of Chitrakala Mahavidyalaya. “If you rope in artists from Butibori for similar work on this new flyover, it would provide them employment. Local talent must be promoted, please bring a proposal to me in this regard.”