Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has called on Britain to support India’s fight against terrorism in South Asia, saying it had disturbed peace and hampered economic growth in the entire region, and that the time had come for “collective punitive action”.
Addressing the Overseas Friends of BJP in London on Friday, Gadkari, in the UK for a three-day visit to raise infrastructure funds and meet London’s transport officials, said state-sponsored terrorism was assuming alarming proportions.
“The time has now come to take a collective punitive action against the perpetrators harbouring terrorist outfits. Our government believes in peaceful co-existence and all-round regional development and progress among Saarc countries.
“But Pakistan’s intransigence in disturbing peace and tranquillity in the region, harbouring terrorist outfits and funding extremists in Jammu and Kashmir is a serious challenge, and we need to isolate Islamabad at all international forum,” Gadkari said.
According to him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was striving to promote regional cooperation and improve bilateral relations with all of India’s neighbours.
During his visit, Gadkari launched a rupee-denominated “masala bond” at the London Stock Exchange and finalised a memorandum of understanding with Transport for London (TfL) authority on cooperation in urban transport policy planning, technology transfer and institutional organisation of transport.
{{/usCountry}}During his visit, Gadkari launched a rupee-denominated “masala bond” at the London Stock Exchange and finalised a memorandum of understanding with Transport for London (TfL) authority on cooperation in urban transport policy planning, technology transfer and institutional organisation of transport.
{{/usCountry}}TfL officials made a presentation before Gadkari on strategy and policy reforms, customer experience and data analysis in respect of London buses and other integrated modes of public transport in the Greater London area.
Under the proposed MoU to be signed later, TfL will share with the ministry of road transport and highways its expertise on the mobility and efficiency of transport system and methodologies to facilitate the planning and delivery of mobility solutions, including ticketing , passenger information, major project financing, infrastructure maintenance strategies and behavioural change and public transport promotion, official sources said.