Nitin Jairam Gadkari (/nitin ɡʌdkʌˈri/ ⓘ; born 27 May 1957) is an Indian politician from Maharashtra[2] who is serving as the 40th Minister of Road Transport & Highways in the Government of India since 2014.

[18] Gadkari served as the Minister of Public Works Department (PWD) of the Government of Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999 and restructured it from top to bottom.

He addressed several meetings between private investors, contractors, builders and various trade organisations and diverted large amounts of budgeted projects towards privatisation.

[21][22] It also helped ameliorate malnutrition in remote Melghat-Dharni area of Amravati district, which previously had no access to medical aid, ration or educational facilities.

After a series of meetings and studies, Gadkari submitted his report to the central government and gave the presentation to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then Prime Minister of India.

His new report was accepted and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, an ambitious rural road connecting scheme worth ₹600 billion, was launched.

[31] In 1990, the Government of Maharashtra conducted feasibility studies for the new expressway to be operated on a toll basis, however, it was only after Gadkari took over as PWD Minister[32] that the construction of this project was fast-tracked.

Gadkari entrusted the work of the construction of Mumbai-Pune expressway to MSRDC in March 1997 on Build-Operate-Transfer basis with permission to collect toll for 30 years.

The other major achievement of Gadkari as state minister[34] was the construction of 55 flyovers in Mumbai, which eased the city traffic problems significantly.

[35] In his book India Aspires, co-authored with Tuhin Sinha,[36] Gadkari spells out his development ideas for the country in great detail.

Increased institutional support to green energy, alternate fuel and effective waste management hold special importance in Gadkari's development plan.

[37] As BJP party president, Gadkari, re-emphasised on legendary Jan Sangh leader Deen Dayal Upadhya's principles of Integral Humanism and Antyodaya (upliftment of the poor).

At the same time, various cells[38][39] were constituted within the party to regularly monitor the develop work undertaken by various BJP state governments and to come up with new policy inputs.

[50][51][52] Gadkari has been praised for several initiatives by both BJP and Congress leaders as well as critics, most notably for increasing blend of ethanol in gasoline, encouraging mixing plastic in asphalt-bitumen roads, as well as launching the Bharat NCAP.

The Program Involves Various Bollywood celebrtities, singers and performers including Hema Malini, Mika Singh, Amit Trivedi and Adnan Sami.

In 2012, the companies came into the media glare based on irregularities unearthed by RTI activist Anjali Damania, the Income Tax department investigated a number of firms that had invested in Purti, and found more than a dozen of these to be bogus addresses.

640 million,[71] the firm IRB, which had obtained hefty road contracts under Gadkari's term as PWD minister, loaned the group Rs.

When questioned on Marathi channel IBN-Lokmat, about why he did not avail a loan from banks, Gadkari explained that the balance sheets of the company were not in a suitable state, so he had requested his friend Dattatray to help him out.

[82] On 13 May 2014, the Income Tax department of Maharashtra state cleared Gadkari's name and gave him a clean chit saying there is no investigation presently pending.

[14] In August 2019 Gadkari created controversy when he stated that he had advised the then Union Finance Minister to sack the RBI Governor because the latter was inflexible and adamant.

[90] In 2009, seven-year-old Yogita Thakre was found dead with bruises all over her body in a car allegedly owned by Gadkari and parked near his home.