'Chardham' highway project will be completed by 2018: Gadkari

The Rs 12,000 crore 'Chardham' highway project in Uttarakhand will be completed by the end of 2018 irrespective of which party comes to power in the state, Union minister Nitin Gadkari has assured.

Minister for Road Transport and Highways Gadkari also exuded confidence of winning the state election. Assembly elections in Uttarakhand were held in a single phase on Wednesday and the results will be announced on March 11.

"This is a promise made to the people of Uttarakhand. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has initiated the process. It will be completed before the end of 2018," he said. Asked whether the promise will be kept if BJP fails to form the government in the state, he said, "Yes. This has nothing to do with politics." Just a week before the imposition of the modal code of conduct in view of the assembly polls in Uttarakhand, Modi had laid the foundation stone for all-weather highway project -- Chardham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojna or the Chardham highway development project -- aimed at improving connectivity between pilgrimage

Just a week before the imposition of the modal code of conduct in view of the assembly polls in Uttarakhand, Modi had laid the foundation stone for all-weather highway project -- Chardham Mahamarg Vikas Pariyojna or the Chardham highway development project -- aimed at improving connectivity between pilgrimage centres of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.

The move prompted the Congress party to dub the project as a "poll stunt", saying the BJP had played a similar gimmick before the Bihar assembly elections.