Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that demonetisation will help to increase government revenue and enable it to allocate more funds to welfare scheme for the people. He further said that India is moving towards a less cash economy like many other countries of the world. Therefore, if something big has to be achieved, then one has to face some difficulties in the beginning.
Asserting that the country is moving on the path of development, Gadkari has said that honesty and transparency is the necessity of the hour and the little difficulties being faced by the people would be reduced in the coming days. On the demonetization effect on people, he said "the Prime Minister asked for 50 days, I can see the queues getting shorter and in days to come there will be relief".
Meanwhile, Gadkari also said that government will try to implement projects worth over Rs 5 lakh crore under the ambitious Sagarmala initiative before completion of its tenure in May 2019. Of the Rs 12 lakh crore being planned for investment under the ambitious programme, he said around Rs 8 lakh crore will be pumped into industrial clusters, while the remaining Rs 4 lakh crore will go to port rail and port road connectivity, mechanisation and modernisation of ports. The minister added that under Sagarmala they have already started work on projects worth around Rs 1 lakh crore.