Chief Minister Jairam Thakur called on Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari at New Delhi today and urged for early approval of shelf works worth Rs. 487 crore under Central Road Fund submitted to the Ministry.The Chief Minister stressed upon connectivity through ropeways for men and material to cover rural population which will also help in boosting tourism in the state. He also stressed upon exploring the possibility for having seaplane connectivity to major water bodies in the state as airstrips in the state are small for large aircrafts.He also requested the Ministry to grant approval for construction of 43 km long Hathithan-Manikaran-Pulga road at an estimated cost of Rs 430 crore, 138 km long Rohru-Jangla-Sungri-Taklech-Sarahan-Jeori road at a cost of Rs 1380 crore and 50 km Chandigarh-Karoran-Tanda-Prempura-Paploha-Shilukhurd-Jamgesh-Kasauli-Dharampur road at a cost of Rs 500 crore.The Chief Minister requested the Union Minister for allocation of adequate funds for periodical renewal of national highways in the state for year 2017-18 and added that allocation of a sum of Rs 24 crore had been made this year for road length of 266.465 km against the request of Rs 102.03 crore.He urged for early approval of Rs 1200 crore for undertaking phase 2 working programme for 2017-18 for national highways in the state which included road safety works on NH 305, tunnel at Jalori pass and Hamirpur-Mandi road. He said that government has sent a complete case for final notification as national highways for 41.50 km Ghumarwin-Sarkaghat road and 39.20 km Ranital-Kotla roads.The Union Minister assured of all possible assistance and appreciated the proposal.