The Chief Minister's Office of Rajasthan announced on 9 July 2026 that Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari addressed a public gathering at Gopalpura-Mandana in Kota, unveiling two major road connectivity projects linking the city to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma were also present at the event.

Context

Speaking at the public meeting, Gadkari announced the construction of a link road that will bypass the Mukundara Wildlife Sanctuary and connect NH-52 to the 8-lane Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, at an estimated cost of approximately Rs 550 crore. A second announcement covered a 21-kilometre, four-lane greenfield connectivity road that will link Kota to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway via Balapura. Together, the two projects are intended to significantly improve Kota's integration with the national expressway grid.

The original post states: 'NH-52 se Mukundara Wildlife Sanctuary ko bypass karte hue, 8-lane Delhi-Mumbai Expressway se jodne ke liye link road banaya jayega' ['A link road will be built to connect NH-52 to the 8-lane Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, bypassing the Mukundara Wildlife Sanctuary'], at a cost of roughly Rs 550 crore.

Policy Backdrop

Both projects fall under the broader Bharatmala Pariyojana, approved by the Union Cabinet in 2017, which prioritises approximately 34,800 km of national highways including the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway — a roughly 1,350-km greenfield, access-controlled corridor designed to cut travel time between the two cities. The expressway is among India's flagship infrastructure undertakings under the National Highways Development Project.

Bypassing ecologically sensitive zones such as wildlife sanctuaries has been a recurring feature of expressway planning in Rajasthan, requiring clearances under the Wildlife Protection Act. The state has seen several such link-road proposals since 2020 to connect state highways with the main expressway corridor, reflecting a policy of extending last-mile access to smaller cities without routing heavy traffic through protected areas.

Stakeholders and Impact

Kota, a major industrial and educational hub in southeastern Rajasthan, stands to gain improved freight and passenger connectivity to both Delhi and Mumbai once the links are operational. Local residents, logistics operators, and businesses along the corridor are the primary beneficiaries. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who represents Kota in Parliament, has been closely associated with infrastructure development efforts in the constituency.

Wildlife authorities managing the Mukundara Hills Tiger Reserve — of which the sanctuary is a part — will be key stakeholders in the environmental clearance process, given the sensitivity of the bypass alignment near protected habitat.

What's Next

The projects will require environmental and wildlife clearances before construction can begin, followed by tendering and land acquisition phases. The timeline for these regulatory steps will determine when work on the Rs 550-crore bypass and the 21-km greenfield link can formally commence. CM Bhajanlal Sharma's administration is expected to coordinate with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on expediting state-level approvals. Progress on these two links will be a bellwether for how quickly Rajasthan can absorb the connectivity dividend of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway into its secondary cities.