Union Minister Nitin Gadkari addresses the ‘20th FICCI Higher Education Summit 2025’, at Bharat Mandapam, in New Delhi, on October 6, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

New Delhi:

The government is contemplating introducing monthly and yearly passes in lieu of toll collection for private vehicles on National Highways as they account for only 26 per cent of total realisation, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday.

Addressing an event here, Nitin Gadkari also said the toll collection booth will be set up outside villages so that it may not disturb the movement of villagers.

The minister said, “74 per cent of toll revenue comes from commercial vehicles. We are considering introducing monthly or annual passes for private vehicles.” Private vehicles account for only 26 per cent of total toll collection, so the government would not suffer any losses, he added.

The Road Transport and Highways Ministry has decided to initially implement a barrier-less global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based toll collection system on national highways as an added facility along with FASTag, Mr Gadkari said.

“Global navigation satellite system (GNSS)-based toll collection system will be better than current toll collection system,” the minister added.

Last year in July, Mr Gadkari said a pilot study with regard to the GNSS-based user fee collection system has been done on Bengaluru-Mysore section of NH-275 in Karnataka and Panipat-Hisar section of NH-709 in Haryana.

The move is aimed at reducing traffic congestion and charging motorists for the exact distance travelled on the highways.

During 2018-19, the average waiting time for vehicles at toll plaza was 8 minutes. With the introduction of FASTags during 2020-21 and 2021-22, the average waiting time of the vehicles was reduced to 47 seconds.

Although there is considerable improvement in waiting time at certain locations, especially near cities, in densely-populated towns, there are still some delays at toll plazas during peak hours.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

A news video clip of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari is viral on social media, with the claim that he referred to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi as a great leader.

In the video, Mr Gadkari is heard saying, “From a distance, I thought he was small, but upon getting closer, I realised he is very big.” However, PTI Fact Check Desk’s investigation found the viral claim to be false. The viral video is edited and users have combined two parts of the original video and shared it with misleading claims.

On social media platform ‘X’, a verified user shared the viral video on December 26, writing, “Anchor: How do you see Rahul Gandhi? Nitin Gadkari: From a distance, I thought he was small, but upon getting closer, I realised he is very big.” After Mr Gadkari’s response, a song starts playing.

To verify the claim, the desk conducted a reverse image search of the video’s keyframes. During this, the team found a video uploaded on ‘BBC News Hindi YouTube channel.’ The original video containing the viral clip was uploaded on October 10, 2024. At the 26-minute mark, the anchor asks Mr Gadkari, “How do you see Rahul Gandhi?” Mr Gadkari replies, “I see everyone in a positive light.” When the journalist further asks for his opinion on Mr Gandhi, Mr Gadkari responds, “This is my opinion about everyone.” Further in the video, Mr Gadkari says, “There are many people, and I have been inspired by many. Let me conclude with one point. Coming to Delhi, I experienced meeting different kinds of people — cricketers, film actors, Bill Gates, and people from around the world. One thing I noticed was that the people I thought were very big from a distance seemed very small up close, and those I thought were small from a distance, turned out to be very big up close.” This video was also shared by Mr Gadkari on his official YouTube account.

PTI Fact Check Desk’s investigation clarifies that Mr Gadkari did not mention Mr Gandhi when he explained his own experiences of meeting different people. Social media users combined two different parts of the original video and shared the combined clip with the misleading claim.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

“When I go to attend international conferences where there is a discussion on road accidents, I try to hide my face,” Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday, underlining he had set a target to reduce accidents by 50 per cent when he first took charge as the Road Transport and Highways Minister.

During a discussion on road accidents in Lok Sabha on Thursday, Gadkari said, “Forget about reducing the number of accidents, I have no hesitation to admit that it has been increased. When I go to attend international conferences where there is a discussion on road accidents, I try to hide my face.” He was replying to a supplementary during the Question Hour.

The minister said that for things to improve human behaviour in India has to change, society has to change and rule of law has to be respected.

Gadkari said he and his family met with a major accident some years ago and he needed to be hospitalised for a long time. “By the grace of God, I and my family were saved. So I have my personal experience of accidents.” He said parking of trucks on road is a major cause for accidents and many of the trucks don’t follow lane discipline.

He said he has ordered for following international standards in making bus body in India. There has to be a hammer near a bus window so that it can be broken easily in case of accidents, he said.

Earlier, Gadkari said road accidents claim 1.78 lakh lives annually in the country and 60 per cent of the victims are in the age group of 18-34 years.

He said while Uttar Pradesh leads the chart among states, Delhi tops the list for cities. In UP, over 23,000 people (or 13.7 per cent of the total deaths due to road accidents) died, followed by Tamil Nadu with over 18,000 (10.6 per cent) deaths.

In Maharashtra, the figure stands at over 15,000 (or nine per cent of the total deaths), followed by Madhya Pradesh with over 13,000 (eight per cent) deaths.

Delhi leads the city chart with over 1,400 deaths, followed by Bengaluru with 915 deaths. Jaipur registers 850 deaths due to road accidents. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Jaipur (Rajasthan):

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday said that changes in the cost of fuel and road can bring the logistics cost to nine per cent.

Speaking at three day Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit 2024 in Jaipur, the Union Minister stated that savings made by reducing the fuel and road cost will significantly help the state to strengthen its export capabilities.

“If there is a change in your fuel and road prices, we have decided to reduce India’s logistics by 9 per cent within 2 years. If this 9 per cent can be achieved in your place (Rajasthan) then the gap of 7 per cent between 16 per cent to 9 per cent will make Rajasthan competitive in export,” the Union Minister stated in Hindi.

Highlighting the need to work on four pillars in order to achieve the target Atmanirbhar Bharat and 3rd largest economy, Mr Gadkari stated that the country needs to work on water, power, transport and communication.

“For any nation to develop, four key requirements are essential. Water, power, transport, and communication – if these four infrastructures are developed, capital investment will flow in, leading to growth in industry, trade, and business. This growth will increase employment potential and raise per capita income. As employment opportunities and income rise, poverty will be alleviated. If we aim to make India a Vishwaguru (world leader), it is imperative to make our states economically capable and powerful. This is a necessity for our country’s progress, ” Mr Gadkari said in his address.

The Union minister also reflected on the benefits of incentivising ethanol production, adding that it has the potential to boost the farmer’s economy.

“Replace petrol in your state and encourage all major companies to switch to ethanol. This will enable farmers in Rajasthan to produce ethanol from maize, sorghum, millet, or even spoiled grains. When cars, scooters, and auto-rickshaws run on ethanol, it will naturally lead to the prosperity and well-being of farmers in the region,” he said.

Today was the second day of the Rising Rajasthan Global Investment Summit 2024. The summit has attracted global investors, industry leaders, policymakers, and government officials.

The summit features an array of thematic and sectoral sessions organised by various state government departments.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

India is the road accident capital of the world. A disgraceful and regrettable record indeed. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, revealed that there were 4.80 lakh road accidents in 2023, resulting in 1.72 lakh deaths – a 4.2% rise in accidents and a 2.6% rise in deaths compared to 2022.

Even worse is the fact that one in every five road death victims in 2023 were pedestrians. It has been estimated that around 10,000 deaths occurred outside schools and colleges. The alarming numbers portray a deadly yet unchanging mix of civic indifference, government negligence and a cynical outlook.

Speaking during Question Hour in Lok Sabha recently, Nitin Gadkari lamented the rising road accident deaths in India, mainly due to the lack of respect or fear of traffic laws. 

The minister acknowledged four critical areas to reduce road accidents: road engineering, automobile engineering, enforcement of laws, and public education.

The rising deaths of children and young adults also reflect our insensitivity as human beings.

Dangerous trend

India’s road death rate sharply contrasts with the global rate, which showed a decline. Road traffic deaths fell by 5% to 1.19 million fatalities annually worldwide between 2010 and 2021, with 108 UN member nations reporting a drop, per a World Health Organisation (WHO) report. India, however, registered a whopping 15% increase in fatalities.

China has roughly the same number of people, but it has reported just 60,028 fatalities in 2023.

Bad driving and weak law enforcement are only part of the problem. Another aspect is the rapidly growing number of vehicles. In 2024, India’s total vehicle production is expected to be around 28.43 million units, which is an increase from the previous year. 

This means that the roads are mostly choked. It’s almost impossible to leave a safe distance between vehicles, and when space does open up, irritated drivers often respond by speeding up.

While the increase in population, road length, and vehicle numbers offers some context, experts point out that efforts to curb fatalities remain insufficient.

Road safety expert Ashwini Bagga says both policy interventions and political will are required. “Vehicles in India are increasing by the day and there is no cap on it. It is difficult to stop this because the automobile industry in India has a stake of 10% to 12% in India’s GDP. Similarly, the road network is also expanding,” he says.

“We may be developing state-of-the-art infrastructure, but our road users are still lacking basic knowledge for using such infrastructure and high-end vehicle technology. Lack of enforcement on highways is also a contributing factor,” adds Bagga.

Future generation – worst sufferer

In India’s metro cities and towns, there is no strict zone earmarked for schools and colleges. Areas around and near the schools and colleges, mainly in the city’s centre or some busy part of the city, often witness chaotic traffic. Students of all ages are forced to take a hazardous journey to school every day. While many students rely on private vehicles, most use public transport, cycles or simply walk.

Their daily nightmare begins right from the time they begin the journey to school, often packed in dangerously driven vans, autorickshaws, and buses, mostly without basic safety features (seat belts, Airbags etc); then trying to dodge speeding vehicles and walking through thin spaces between parked cars.

Our footpaths are too narrow, uneven, and often obstructed by makeshift eateries and electric transformers. Also, parked vehicles and large vans reversing near schools pose significant safety risks for children, compounded by long U-turns and speeding traffic.

The mixture of heavy traffic, poor pedestrian infrastructure, and lax enforcement of speed limits turns the daily commute into a frightening ordeal that constantly endangers children.

Highlighting ways to safeguard children and their school zone, Alok Kumar, Additional Director General of Police, Karnataka, says, “It needs a combination of engineering, enforcement and education.” The engineering aspect includes creating pedestrian crossing or a raised pedestrian crossing, and barriers and bollards to prevent risky movement of children and students.

“Displaying school/college zone boards and speed limit boards; traffic calming measures like use of rumble strips, cats eyes/studs. Strict enforcement of traffic rules, speed limits and educating students regarding following traffic rules and to take precautions while crossing the roads can go a long way in reducing accidents,” says Alok Kumar.

Along with redeveloping the educational institution zone for the safety of students, designated paths, proper signage, traffic signals and safe crossings along the entire route from home to school should be prioritised.

“It will be good to adopt best practices for developing safe zones near schools and colleges. Firstly, it will help in providing children a safe infrastructure to walk and cross roads. Secondly, it will alert road users to identify an educational institution whenever they approach a safe zone. At several locations in India, it has been exercised but it is required to be replicated on a larger scale,” says Bagga.

Are laws enough?

Traffic violations are rampant despite the amendments in the MVA (Motor Vehicle Act) in 2019 that increased the fines for breaking traffic rules.

The amendment was projected to bring down traffic violations by financially hurting the violators, but it apparently had a limited impact. So, increasing the penalty is definitely not a deterrent. Experts have also pointed to the failure to enforce Section 106(2) BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023), that enhanced the sentence of imprisonment to deter fatal road accidents. Due to the widespread protests by various truck unions, the section was kept in abeyance by the government.

“More than creating new laws, strict enforcement of existing rules and laws is important. Enforcement authorities should be aware of these provisions and enforce the provisions of MVA Act and Rules and provisions of BNS. Suspension of driving licence u/ s 206(4) of MV Act, 1988 should be effectively implemented. Sec 106(2) of BNS should be put into force. A cohesive approach among the stakeholder agencies will go a long way in reducing road traffic accidents,” says Alok Kumar.

Harsher laws may not act as a complete deterrent. They needs to be complemented with better surveillance, policing and strict implementation of traffic rules, without which the law in itself may not achieve the desired outcome.
 

New Delhi:

Union minister Nitin Gadkari, who has been handling the Road Transport portfolio for the third straight term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today said efforts are on to use garbage to build roads, which will also take care of the mounting garbage problems of the country’s metro cities. 

“Delhi has four mountains of municipal garbage. Now, we have used 80 lakh tons of municipal garbage in road construction,” he told NDTV at the special Auto Conclave.

Giving cases in point, he named a number of highways in western and northern India — the Mumbai-Delhi Express highway, Ahmedabad-Vadodara highway, the Ahmedabad Dholera highway and also in roads in parts of Chandigarh, he added.

The project to convert stubble into biofuel is also going ahead full steam, he said. This will also take care of the massive pollution issue, especially the haze that chokes north India every winter.

“We have 400 projects in the process for which 60 have already started and they are making bio-CNG from parali,” he told NDTV. 

“And in Panipat, there is a project of IndianOil where they are making 1 lakh litres of bio-ethanol from rice stalks or parali, 150 tonnes of bio vitamins and 78,000 tons per year of aviation fuel,” he said, underscoring that it is a classic case of “waste to wealth” generation. 

This, he said, would also reduce reduce import bill and pollution and establishes an economic point of view of being “atmanirbhar” (self reliant).

The burning of parali, the minister said, has gone down by 40 per cent and will be down to zero per cent in the next two to three years. 

This, he added, will be because of two “important philosophies” he said — citing generation of wealth from waste as well as knowledge. “innovation, technology… are being used to convert knowledge into wealth,” he added.

Nagpur:

Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said politics is a “sea of unsatisfied souls” where every person is sad and aspiring for a higher post than his current position. Life is a game of compromises, compulsions, limitations and contradictions, Mr Gadkari added while speaking at the launch of a book, titled ’50 Golden Rules of Life’, in Nagpur on Sunday.

Whether a person is in family, social, political or corporate life, the life is full of challenges and problems and the person should understand the “art of living” to face them, the senior BJP leader said.

The minister recalled a programme he had attended in Rajasthan where he said, “Politics is sea of unsatisfied souls, where every person is sad…the one who becomes corporator is sad because he did not get the chance to become MLA, and an MLA is sad because he could not get a ministerial berth.”

“The one who becomes a minister is sad because he could not get a good ministerial department and could not become chief minister, and chief minister is in tension because he does not know when the high command will ask him to leave,” the BJP leader said.

The problems in life pose a big challenge and facing them and moving forward is the “art of living”, he said.

Mr Gadkari cited a quote from former US President Richard Nixon’s autobiography, which says ‘a man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits’.

The Union minister emphasised on good human values and “sanskars” for a happy life.

He also highlighted the importance of “person, party and party philosophy” while sharing his golden rules to live life and be successful.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Nagpur:

Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said that nobody should take Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seriously, and asserted that the people of Maharashtra will repose trust in the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in the November 20 state assembly elections.

“The way Rahul Gandhi speaks, nobody takes him seriously…I think people should not take his remarks seriously,” Gadkari said in an interview with PTI.

On Gandhi’s allegations about PM Modi “suffering from memory loss like US President Joe Biden”, Gadkari said the Congress leader speaks irresponsibly.

Asked about the challenges faced by the Mahayuti alliance after a dismal show during the Lok Sabha elections, Gadkari said, that voters were confused (by the opposition) on a large scale during the Lok Sabha polls.

“A narrative was created that if we win 400-plus seats, we will amend the Constitution drafted by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar,” the senior BJP leader said.

“There is no question of changing the Constitution. We will neither do it nor allow others to do it,” Gadkari said.

“Now people have realized that the campaign by the opposition during Lok Sabha polls was based on lies and they have decided to support with positivity the Mahayuti in Maharashtra under PM Modi’s leadership,” Gadkari said.

On BJP talking of development politics, but its leader raising slogans like ‘batenge toh katenge’, Gadkari said, “We are contesting the elections on the plank of development. We are all one. Some go to temple, some to mosque, gurdwara and church. But we are all Bharatiya and the country is above everything else for us,” he said.

On Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar voicing his opposition to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s ‘batenge toh katenge’ remark, indicating a growing rift within the Mahayuti, Gadkari said, “First of all, we are different parties and it is not necessary that we share the same opinion.” “Media also distorts what is said. This creates misconceptions. The call for unity was to unite against terrorism and Naxalism,” he said.

Asked about Rahul Gandhi raising the issue of caste census, Gadkari said, “The real issue is about the welfare of villages, the poor and farmers. The poor have no caste and religion. A Muslim gets petrol at the same rate as others.

Asked if would like to become the BJP president, Gadkari said, “I have been the BJP president earlier and don’t have any desire for that post now.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today played down allegations that the BJP plays the politics of engineering splits in other parties, saying veteran political leader Sharad Pawar had done the same in his day. “Everything is fair in love and politics. Sometimes, it works out vis-a-vis the people, other times there are reactions,” Mr Gadkari told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

During the interview ahead of the assembly elections  in Maharashtra, Mr Gadkari – asked about the public perception that has cost the BJP in the Lok Sabha election — said Sharad Pawar is a very respected leader in Maharashtra. But at one time, he had made moves that affected every party, he said.

“The NCP under Sharad Pawar as Chief Minister broke up all parties… He broke the Shiv Sena and pulled out Chaggan Bhujbal and others.  But it was quite regular in politics. Whether it is right or wrong is a different matter… There is this saying — everything is fair in love and politics,” Mr Gadkari said. 

In the Lok Sabha election held earlier this year, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi had won 30 of the state’s 48 seats. The ruling alliance won 17. One seat went to an Independent candidate.

The results were seen as a reflection of the public disapproval of the political upheaval in the state — the split in Shiv Sena, the collapse of the MVA government and the passing of the reins of power to the BJP and the rebel faction of the Sena. It was followed by the split in the Nationalist Congress party of Sharad Pawar and the rebel faction led by Ajit Pawar joining the ruling coalition.

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi had won 30 of the state’s 48 Lok Sabha seats, the ruling alliance won 17. The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena won nine seats, ahead of the 7 won by Mr Shinde’s faction. The Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar – scooped up eight seats, compared to the one won by Ajit Pawar’s party. The biggest winner was the Congress, which went up from one seat to 13.

The BJP, seen as the instigator, had also suffered, sliding to nine seats from the 23 it won in 2019.

Polling for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held in a single phase on November 20 and the counting of votes will be held on November 23.