The Ministry is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways (NHs). The development of NHs is carried out after network planning through PM Gati Shakti framework in whole of the government approach. While planning such development, connectivity to important Economic, Tourist and Religious centres / nodes, including connectivity to District Headquarters, are invariably taken into consideration.

NH length in the Country has increased by 1.6 times from 91,287 km in March, 2014 to 1,46,126 km at present. Ministry has constructed 98,021 km of NHs at an expenditure of Rs. 14.55 Lakh Crore since April, 2014. As per the latest available records, out of 784 District Headquarters, 746 are accessible within a distance of 10 km of NHs.

All districts in the State of Uttar Pradesh has been connected by NHs, with construction of about 7,554 km NH length at an expenditure of about Rs. 1,53,918 Crore in the State since

April, 2014. Out of 75 District Headquarters, 73 are accessible within a distance of 10 km from NHs in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Infrastructure sector which is the prime mover of the economy contributes to the faster economic growth and development.

NH network in the country has increased by 1.6 times from 91,287 km in March, 2014 to 1,46,126 km at present. Budgetary allocation of the Ministry has increased from about Rs. 31,130 Crore in 2013-14 to about Rs. 2,84,000 Crore in 2024-25. With such increased budgetary allocation, quality of NHs has improved substantially. Length of 4 lane and above NH network has increased by more than 2.5 times from 18,371 km in 2014 to 48,422 km. Also less than 2 lane NHs has more than halved from 27,517 km to 13,000 km by bringing down the share of less than 2 lane NHs from 30% to less than 10% of the total NH network.

The above developments have increased the regional connectivity, including for the State of Uttar Pradesh, and accessibility to the NHs across the country and also increased the logistics efficiency.

This information was given by the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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MJPS/GS