New roads to cut Delhi-Chennai travel time by 5 hrs: Gadkari

 

 

 

 

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said that the travel time between New Delhi and Chennai is set to reduce significantly with the completion of new roads. The new infrastructure will shorten the distance between the two cities by 320 km, saving at least 5 hours of travel time. Gadkari said this while addressing the inaugural session of summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Vidarbha on the topic ‘Logistics Talent for Tomorrow’ here in the city. Shree Jamdar, Chairman, CII Vidarbha Zone; Karunakaran Sathianathan, Director National Highway Logistic Management Ltd; Dr Smita Singh (Dabholkar), Convener – HR Forum, CII Vidarbha Zonal Council; R K Narayan,

 

Chief Investment Officer, Horizon Industrial Parks (Blackstone Group Company); Pyare Khan, Founder, Chairman & MD of Ashmi Group; Amitabh Sinha, Vice Chairman, CII Vidarbha Zonal Council and Managing Director, Metlok Private Limited were also present on the occasion. Gadkari further highlighted that India’s logistics cost has come down to single digits, while travel time has reduced drastically due to infrastructure upgrades. In addition, Gadkari urged the industry to establish driver skill centres and highlighted employment opportunities arising from the upcoming steel hub in Gadchiroli, calling for focused upskilling of local youth.

 

In his welcome address, Jamdar highlighted a critical workforce reality, stating that nearly 60 per cent of India’s logistics workforce is semi-skilled or unskilled, underlining the urgent need for structured skilling, certification, and productivity enhancement. In her opening address, Dr Smita Singh spoke on the shared responsibility of academia, industry, and industry bodies like CII in strengthening Vidarbha’s logistics ecosystem. Karunakaran Sathianathan spoke on the importance of a multi-skilled workforce, addressing challenges across manual and automated warehouses, cargo handling, and carrier operations.

 

R K Narayan highlighted how rapid technological advancements have intensified competition in global supply chains, citing practical examples from DHL and Maersk, and stressed the need to augment experience with technology-led decision-making. Nitin Varkey, Chief of Staff, Blue Dart, shared insights into operational excellence, elaborating on the people and process systems enabling the organisation to manage ‘60 shipments per second’. Focusing on the human element, Pyare Khan emphasised investing in the lives, welfare, and skilling of drivers, calling them the backbone of the logistics industry. Dr Bhimaraya Metri, Director IIM Nagpur addressed the audience via a video.

 

The session was followed by a panel discussion, moderated by Dr Abhishek Narain Singh, Faculty IMT Nagpur. Shivkumar Rao, Founder Director, R & Y Logistics, Shivaji Prasad, CEO Pacific ISS, Global Forwarding, Vivek Thakkar, Director, Logistics Park Pvt Ltd, Dr Kapil Chandrayan, Development Professional K Sathianathan were the panelists. The summit concluded with a vote of thanks by Rahul Dixit, Convener MSME Western Region CII.