Nitin Gadkari Biography

Minister of Road Transport and Highways of India

Nitin Jairam Gadkari (/nitin ɡʌdkʌˈri/ ⓘ; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra who is the current Minister for Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India. He is also the longest serving Minister for Road Transport & Highways currently running his tenure for over nine years. Gadkari earlier served as the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2009 to 2013. He is also known for his work as the Public Works Department Minister of the State of Maharashtra, where, under his leadership, a series of roads, highways and flyovers across the state were constructed.

He currently represents the Nagpur cons*uency in the Lok Sabha and is a lawyer by occupation. He previously also served as a Minister in various departments which includes Water resources and River development, Shipping, Rural Development and MSME. During the cabinet reshuffle on 7 July 2021, the portfolio for the Ministry of MSME which was under him was re*igned to Narayan Rane, another BJP MP from Maharashtra as a part of cabinet expansion. He is often referred to as the "Expressway Man of India" by the media due to his initiation of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway and contributions to the development of expressways and other road infrastructure. The World Economic Forum has recognised him as the "pioneer of public–private partnership (PPP) in the road sector in India". Under his tenure as Minister of Road and Transport, Indian highway network grew by 59% within 9 years.

Early life

Gadkari was born into a Marathi family in Nagpur, India to Jairam Gadkari and Bhanutai Gadkari on 27 May 1957. During his adolescence, he worked for the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and the student union Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. He completed M.Com. and LL.B. from Nagpur University.

Political career

Gadkari served as the Minister of Public Works Department (PWD) of the Government of Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999 and restructured it from top to bottom. He has served as the president of the Maharashtra state unit of BJP.

Gadkari strongly supported privatisation while he campaigned for investments in infrastructure from private firms. He addressed several meetings between private investors, contractors, builders and various trade organisations and diverted large amounts of budgeted projects towards privatisation. Subsequently, the state government allocated ₹7:billion for rural connectivity. Over the next four years, all-weather road connectivity in Maharashtra was extended to 98% of the population. The project aimed to connect 13,736 remote villages which remained unconnected since independence by road. It also helped ameliorate malnutrition in remote Melghat-Dharni area of Amravati district, which previously had no access to medical aid, ration or educational facilities.

The Union Government appointed him as the Chairman of National Rural Road Development Committee. After a series of meetings and studies, Gadkari submitted his report to the central government and gave the presentation to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Prime Minister of India. His new report was accepted and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, an ambitious rural road connecting scheme worth ₹600:billion, was launched.He received the Late Madhavrao Limaye Award by Public Library Nashik, for Most Efficient Member of Parliament for 2020-21.

Positions served

Minister, Govt of Maharashtra
Chairman, Purti Group of Companies
President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra State
Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Council
Former Minister for Public Works Department, Maharashtra State
Member of Legislative Council, Maharashtra State
Elected to the Maharashtra Govt. Legislative Council in 1989 from graduates cons*uency, Nagpur Region
Re-elected in 1990
Re-elected in 1996 and elected unopposed in 2002
Inducted in the Maharashtra State Government Cabinet as the Minister for Public Works on 27 May 1995
Member of the High Powered Committee for Privatisation, Government of Maharashtra
Chairman, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation, India
Guardian Minister for Nagpur District, Govt. of Maharashtra
Chairman, Mining policy Implementation Committee, Govt. of Maharashtra
Chairman, Metropolis Beautification Committee, Govt. of Maharashtra
Leader of Opposition, Maharashtra Legislative Council, Chairman National Rural Road Development Committee
Chairman, Review Committee of PWD at Govt. of India
State President of Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra
National President of BJP, India

As Public Works Department (PWD) Minister, Maharashtra, 1996–99

As PWD Minister of Maharashtra, Gadkari played a crucial role in expediting the construction of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. In 1990, the Government of Maharashtra conducted feasibility studies for the new expressway to be operated on a toll basis, however, it was only after Gadkari took over as PWD Minister that the construction of this project was fast-tracked. Gadkari entrusted the work of the construction of Mumbai-Pune expressway to MSRDC in March 1997 on Build-Operate-Transfer basis with permission to collect toll for 30 years. The tender notice was published in leading newspapers all over India and also on the Internet. Due to the wide publicity, 133 tenders were sold and on 18 December 1997, 55 tenders were received. After technical and financial evaluation, tenders were accepted and work orders were given on 1 January 1998 to four contractors. Thereafter tenders for widening of the Khandala and Lonavala-Khandala byp* works were invited. The tenders were received on 24 August 1998 and orders were issued on 4 September 1998. The first sections of the Expressway opened in 2000, and the entire route was completed, opened to traffic and made fully operational from April 2002.

The other major achievement of Gadkari as state minister was the construction of 55 flyovers in Mumbai, which eased the city traffic problems significantly.

As President of BJP, 2009–2013

Gadkari was appointed the president of the BJP in December 2009. This was considering a tough phase for the BJP as the party had lost two successive Lok Sabha elections and needed a quick revamp.

In his book India Aspires, co-aut*d with Tuhin Sinha, Gadkari spells out his development ideas for the country in great detail. Increased ins*utional support to green energy, alternate fuel and effective waste management hold special importance in Gadkari's development plan.

As BJP party president, Gadkari, re-emphasised on legendary Jan Sangh leader Deen Dayal Upadhya's principles of Integral Humanism and Antyodaya (upliftment of the poor). At the same time, various cells were cons*uted within the party to regularly monitor the develop work undertaken by various BJP state governments and to come up with new policy inputs.

Gadkari resigned as party president in January 2013.

2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections

Gadkari contested 2014 Lok Sabha election successfully from Nagpur cons*uency and won. He defeated Congress party candidate Vilas Muttemwar by margin of 285,000. He retained his seat in 2019, defeating Nana Patole of Congress party by 216,000 margin.

Union Minister

Gadkari taking charge as the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, in New Delhi on 29 May 2014.Gadkari taking charge as the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, in New Delhi on 4 June 2019.Bill Gates and Melinda Gates, Co-Chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation calls on the Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari and his wife Kanchan Gadkari, in New Delhi on 19 September 2014.

Gadkari became the Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Minister of Shipping in May 2014. Out of the stalled projects he inherited, projects worth ₹1 trillion (US$13:billion) were terminated and others worth ₹350 billion (US$4.4:billion) were put up for rebidding. He increased the pace of road creation in the country from 2:km/day to 16.5:km/day in his first year and to 21:km/day in the second year and end of 2018 30:km/day. He reserved an amount of one per cent of the total projects awarded in his tenure worth ₹2 trillion (US$25:billion) for trees and beautification.

During the Second Modi ministry, Gadkari retained Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, while the Ministry of Shipping and Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation were replaced with Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises on 31 May 2019. Highway construction pace post 2019 was 36 km per day in 2020 and Gadkari aims to take it to 68 kms per day with a target of 25000 kms in 2022-23. In line with the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat green fuel adoption and fuel self sufficiency Gadkari drove to the parliament in a hydrogen powered FCEV Toyota Mirai car. He asked people to opt for green fuel vehicles.

Gadkari, who was virtually present at the inauguration of the headquarters of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on 28 October 2020, made a speech that was highly critical of the NHAI officials and bureaucracy.

Gadkari has been praised for several initiatives by both BJP and Congress leaders as well as critics, most notably for increasing blend of ethanol in gasoline, encouraging mixing plastic in asphalt-bitumen roads, as well as launching the Bharat NCAP. The Bharat NCAP has been launched on the lines of Global NCAP, which is based on Latin NCAP 2016. Due to absence of safety features in cars made for India, which was noted following the crash testing of a few models in 2014, Gadkari mandated safety features such as ABS and 6 airbags(earlier 2 airbags) for cars sold across India. While he received praise for trying to make roads and cars safer, some automakers criticized this decision, stating that adding safety features will drive up prices of vehicles and make them unaffordable.

Khasdar Sanskrutik Mahotsav

Gadkari, organises Khasdar Sanskrutik Mahotsav every year in Nagpur. The event focuses on India's diverse cultural heritage, encomp*ing traditional arts, music, dance, and literature. The Program Involves Various Bollywood celebr*ies, singers and performers including Hema Malini, Mika Singh, Amit Trivedi and Adnan Sami.

2024 general election

In March 2024, he was announced as the BJP candidate from his home cons*uency Nagpur in the 2024 General Elections.

Industrial career

During his career in politics, Gadkari set up a number of private industries and companies. These include –

Poly sack Industrial Society Ltd – founder and chairman
Nikhil Furniture and Appliances Pvt. Ltd – promoter and director
Antyodaya Trust – founder and member
Empress Employees Co-operative Paper Mills Ltd – founder and chairman
Purti Power and Sugar Ltd / Purti Sakhar Karkhana Ltd – promoter

Gadkari has registered himself as an agriculturist for tax purposes. He also started a fruit export company under the banner of "Ketaki Overseas Trading Company". He owns a total of 17 sugar plantations in Vidarbha under the banner of the Purti group. Gadkari floated the Purti Power and Sugar Ltd (now Purti Group) in 1995, when he started as PWD minister in Maharashtra. In 2012, the companies came into the media glare based on irregularities unearthed by RTI activist Anjali Damania, the Income Tax department investigated a number of firms that had invested in Purti, and found more than a dozen of these to be bogus addresses. Another three investing firms were found co-located with the Somani Group, but no one knew of these firms. Following this, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal amplified the allegations accusing Gadkari of irregularities. However, Kejriwal apologised unconditionally after Gadkari filed a defamation case against him.

In 2010, when the Purti group had incurred losses of Rs. 640:million, the firm IRB, which had obtained hefty road contracts under Gadkari's term as PWD minister, loaned the group Rs. 1.64:billion, which was higher than Purthi's turnover of Rs. 1.45:billion. When questioned on Marathi channel IBN-Lokmat, about why he did not avail a loan from banks, Gadkari explained that the balance sheets of the company were not in a suitable state, so he had requested his friend Dattatray to help him out. Also, Gadkari's son Nikhil was allegedly a director with IRB at the time. Gadkari argued that there was nothing wrong in having contractors invest in one's firms.

The news of these allegations broke a few months before Gadkari was to seek re-election as president of the BJP. At the time, Gadkari was to address several rallies for the 2012 Himachal Pradesh Legislative *embly election. India Today reported that BJP leader Shanta *ar had suggested that Gadkari's presence was "affecting BJP's anti-corruption campaign." Subsequently, Gadkari cancelled his scheduled rallies at Bilaspur and Solan on 30 October.

In early 2013, in the elections for BJP president, for which Gadkari was "close to clinching a second innings" his chances unravelled with several senior leaders suggesting that the I-T indictment of the Purti groups investments had damaged his image, and Gadkari was not re-elected. Gadkari told the Times of India that he was stepping down until the inquiry proved him innocent. Some RSS functionaries have suggested that his exit was the result of infighting. Subsequently, Gadkari threatened the I-T officers, saying "when our party comes to power, there would be no Chidambaram or Sonia to save them (I-T officials)"; Gadkari said,"Earlier CBI was doing Congress's bidding and now the I-T people are following suit." The I-T officers *ociation took umbrage at these remarks and demanded an apology.

Eventually, in May 2013, the Income Tax department *essed that Gadkari's firms had evaded Rs. 70:million via such benami investments and other practices. On 30 April. 2014, then Congress union Minister Manish Tewari apologised to Gadkari when he was dragged in to a defamation suit by the latter. This apology was based on the judicial commission mention that Gadkari had played no role or had no concern with the scam. On 13 May 2014, the Income Tax department of Maharashtra state cleared Gadkari's name and gave him a clean chit saying there is no investigation presently pending.

Personal life

Nitin Gadkari is married to Kanchan Gadkari and they have three children, Nikhil, Sarang and Ketki. His eldest son Nikhil is married to Rutuja Pathak and Sarang Gadkari is married to Madhura Rodi. Gadkari and his family follow a vegetarian diet.

Event

In August 2019 Gadkari created controversy when he stated that he had advised the then Union Finance Minister to sack the RBI Governor because the latter was inflexible and adamant.

In 2009, seven-year-old Yogita Thakre was found dead with bruises all over her body in a car allegedly owned by Gadkari and parked near his home. Maharashtra's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) tried twice to close the case, but was rejected by local courts. Mr Gadkari's employees claimed that the girl accidentally locked herself in the boot of the car and died of suffocation. The girl's mother, however, claimed she was murdered. Yogita's post-mortem report said that she was smothered to death.

In popular culture

In 27 October 2023, a Marathi language biopic *led Gadkari was released in Maharashtra.

References

Citations

Sources

Mahurkar, Uday (2017), Marching with a Billion: *ysing Narendra Modi's Government at Midterm, Penguin Books, ISBN:978-9-386-49584-6

External links

Nitin Gadkari at Wikipedia's sister projects

Media from Commons
Data from Wikidata

Biography Profile at Lok Sabha, Parliament of India
Official website (personal)

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