Bhopal, April 10 -- Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday inaugurated and laid the foundation stones of 10 national highway and infrastructure projects worth Rs 5,800 crore at a grand public event held in Dhar district of the state.

Hailing Madhya Pradesh's rapid development under the "double-engine government," Gadkari said: "Our aim is to make the national highway network in MP better than that of the US in the next three years." He also announced that Rs 3 lakh crore worth of road infrastructure projects would be com-pleted across India in the coming year.

Responding to the CM's request, Gadkari approved six new highway projects of 400 km worth Rs 12,000 crore under the Central Road Fund and announced Rs 33,000 crore worth of additional in-frastructure works including greenfield corridors, ring roads, elevated corridors, and bridges.

Calling highways "pathways to prosperity", Gadkari asserted that enhanced road connectivity would improve access to education, employment, and healthcare in rural areas, lifting people out of poverty and transforming lives.

CM Yadav said that the projects will boost preparations for the Simhastha Kumbh Mela 2028, especially in the Malwa region. Thanking Gadkari, he described him as the "Archi-tect of India's Highway Revolution" and reiterated his commitment to further expanding road net-works for both urban and rural transformation.

Among the projects inaugurated or launched were the four-lane Ujjain-Badnawar road, several stretches of the Ujjain-Garoth Greenfield Highway, the Jeerapur-Susner-Rajasthan border road, and key flyovers in Indore and Shajapur. Yadav also pitched for linking the Jyotirlingas of Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain), Somnath (Gujarat), and Omkareshwar (MP) via a spiritual highway corridor.

Union Minister of State Savitri Thakur, MP Urban Development and Housing Minister Kailash Vi-jayvargiya, and other Ministers MLAs were present on the occasion.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.