Pune: Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari on Monday mentioned how he was trolled on social media for damages on the connecting link recently, even though it was the state govt that had implemented the project and not his ministry.He was speaking at a lecture series, Festival of Thinkers, organised by Symbiosis International University (SIU) on Monday. He highlighted the importance of futuristic planning and the need for better quality monitoring.Gadkari said he was the public works department (PWD) minister in the state govt when the Pune-Mumbai expressway was constructed. “It has been 27 years since, but not a single pothole has appeared on it till date. However, such good work never gets any publicity. Recently, I was targeted on social media for roads, like the connecting link project, implemented by the state govt.”“During my time (as state PWD minister), I could not get the connecting link constructed since the forest department did not grant permission for the project,” he added.The minister said that while the technology infrastructure had become the backbone of several projects in India, quality monitoring needed to improve. He said, “One benefit of social media is that it helps in quality control. If things go wrong, it gets exposed online immediately.”“Instead of repairing things after they fail, the approach should be to predict the failure through effective use of AI,” he said.Gadkari also got a first-hand experience of the city’s bad roads on his way to SIU campus on Monday. In his speech, he said he had reached the campus in a helicopter last time and was unaware of the current condition of roads and surfaces in Pune.The minister said patchwork would not help any more and futuristic planning was essential for infrastructure projects to help boost the country’s economy. “Projects must be planned with a long-term vision of 50 years instead of meeting short term-requirements,” he added.
