Every Indian can be proud of the world record set by India in road construction. The 75 km stretch of the Amravati-Akola road in Maharashtra was completed in just 105.33 hours. India has managed to break the record set by Qatar. The authorities had originally planned to complete the construction in 108 hours. It was an amazing achievement that they were able to complete it an hour and a half earlier. The construction was completed by a private company called Rajpath Infracon under the supervision of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). For this, 1520 people worked in three shifts. Of these, 800 are engineers, surveyors and security personnel. 720 are labourers. These people, who got the job done on the field, should be congratulated first. The National Highways Authority and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari can be proud of this achievement.

38 km of roads are being constructed daily in connection with the development of national highways. The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways aims to build a total of 60,000 km of roads from 2019 to 2024. 31,609 km of roads have already been constructed. We can see the construction of national highways everywhere now. The construction of highways was less in Kerala compared to other states. Despite the delay, it is gratifying that the National Highways are being developed in Kerala as well. The work got delayed due to a delay in acquiring land and handing it over to the NHAI. The government should not only acquire land and hand it over to the NHAI but also ensure that the various departments in Kerala do not hamper the works. We had reported that the construction of national highways got halted in several places as the Geology Department did not give permission to private companies to bring soil. Tons of metal, rock and soil are required for the construction of a national highway. The government should intervene and put an end to the practice of officials routinely harassing private companies that approach them for this. A special team headed by a high-ranking official should be formed to give permission.

The number of vehicles in Kerala is increasing day by day as compared to other states. However, the condition of the roads in the state is not changing. As a result, the number of people who die in road accidents is on the rise. Therefore road development needs to be accelerated at double speed. Authorities must be ready to use all means possible to complete the work as quickly as possible. If the condition of the roads changes, there will be crores of private investment on both sides of the roads. It will also provide employment to thousands of young people. The world record in Maharashtra should inspire the government, private companies, political parties and the people to complete the road work in Kerala ahead of schedule.