New Delhi, April 30 : Signifying a "total breakdown", the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday announced it would not be attending any meetings called by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar or the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath.

Addressing a press conference, BJP leader Sushma Swaraj also attacked Congress president Sonia Gandhi for inciting MPs and ministers to disrupt her speech in the Lok Sabha earlier in the morning. She also said Gandhi had no respect for democratic institutions.

"It is a situation of total breakdown but the government is responsible not me," Sushma Swaraj said.

New Delhi, April 26 : Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath Friday said there was no question of the resignation of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.

The assertion came as opposition BJP and Left parties demanded the resignation of the law minister for vetting a CBI report on the coal block allocation scam, prior to its submission to the Supreme Court.

"The CBI director has clearly said that the draft report was seen by the law minister and not the final report. There is no question of him (Ashwani Kumar) resigning," Nath told reporters here.

Panaji, April 18 : Former union commerce minister Kamal Nath had overruled his ministry's secretary and favoured denotification of three special economic zones (SEZ) in Goa in 2008, suggest recently unclassified diplomatic cables available on Wikileaks.

The cable from the US embassy dated Jan 4, 2008, titled "Centre appears to waffle on Goa SEZ ban", also says that the decision to denotify the SEZs in Goa could have hit the central government's plans for "foreign participation in SEZs".

New Delhi, April 18 ; There was broad consensus on the contentious land acquisition bill, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said after an all-party meeting on the issue Thursday.

"Largely there is a consensus... although there cannot be unanimity," Kamal Nath told reporters.

"The bill will now move to the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha," he said.

The government is keen to ensure the bill's smooth passage in the second half of the budget session of parliament, beginning April 22.

New Delhi, April 8 : Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath Monday said the Congress-led UPA government will complete its full term and the general elections will be held as per schedule in 2014.

"It does look not like an early election at all... we will have elections as scheduled next year... I have no doubt... there is no question of early elections," Kamal Nath told TV news channel NDTV.

Ghaziabad, March 16 : India has the largest aspirational society on the plant that will be engaged in generating economic wealth and creating social harmony to build an India of the 21st century, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath has said.

Davos (Switzerland), Jan. 25 : Amid today''s gloomy headlines, are we experiencing the best period in world history? That''s the provocative question that a panel of experts, including a top Indian government official, tackled today at a breakfast session at the World Economic Forum''s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Kochi, Jan 8 : India faces a huge gap in infrastructure but the country hopes to catch up in the next five years, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath said Tuesday.

The minister was addressing the 11th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas here.

"The common psyche in India is that if something is not booming, then it is gloomy," he said.

The minister pointed out that while the automobile sector in the US grew by five percent, "in our country it grew by 18 percent. Is it not good?" he asked.

Bowing to the Opposition's demand, the government on Wednesday announced a judicial probe into retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc's lobbying practices.

Bentonville, Arkansas-headquartered Wal-Mart recently admitted that it spent $25 million (around Rs 136 crore) on lobbying to enter India's huge retail sector.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath announced in Lok Sabha that the judicial probe into the world's biggest retailer will be conducted by a retired judge.

The winter session of Parliament, which will begin on November 22 and end on December 20, is expected to be a stormy session as the government will be back with financial sector reform on the agenda.

While the government has plans to table twenty-five Bills for consideration and passage during the imminent session, Trinamool Congress is preparing to bring a no-confidence motion against the Congress-led UPA government over the FDI in retail issue.

Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath on Wednesday took a veiled dig at the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) by hinting that the national auditor doesn’t consider ground realities while preparing audits.

Speaking at a seminar on Performance Reporting for Urban Local Bodies at the CAG headquarters, Nath said that the government’s recent decision to legalize unauthorized colonies in the capital was based on ground realities, but someone could allege that the decision cost the exchequer crores of rupees.

The National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) has announced the price band of Rs. 90 to Rs. 106 for its upcoming Initial Public Offering (IPO).

The state-run company announced the price band in a newspaper advertisement on Tuesday. The government is aiming to raise up to 1.27 billion rupees from the offering of 1.2 crore equity shares. The Indian government is planning to sell 10 per cent stake in NBCC.

The union urban development ministry has given its in-principle approval to three regional rapid transit system (RRTS) corridors connecting the national capital Delhi with neighboring cities.

Urban development minister Kamal Nath approved the concept proposal of implementing the RRTS in the three corridors connecting Meerut, Panipat and Alwar. The corridors will be built on the routes including Delhi-Gurgaon- Alwar, Delhi-Sonepat-Panipat and Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut.

Union minister for Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath has said that the government may consider using cement for construction of expressways. The ministry has laid out plans to construct over 18,000 km greenfield expressways by 2032.

Nath said “It would be appropriate to look at building expressways with cement concrete as these will be greenfield projects.” The minister was speaking at a seminar organized by CII titled ‘Concrete Highway Projects’.

The minister outlined a possible use of concrete on roads stretches which are used heavily and further said that the roads which are already build with bitumen will not be turned into cement roads.

New Delhi, Jan 8 - Stating that wealth does not create roads but roads create wealth, Minister for Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath Friday urged overseas Indians to invest in the country's infrastructure sector.

"India has the second largest network of roads in the world. We have 3.4 million km of roads, next only to the US and bigger than China," Kamal Nath said at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2010, the annual conclave of the Indian diaspora.

New Delhi, Jan 6 : Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath Wednesday said the government has constituted a committee to decide how cars would be rated on the basis of fuel-efficiency.

"We have formed a four-member committee to prepare the norms for rating fuel efficiency of cars," Kamal Nath said after formally inaugurating the 10th Auto Export here.

The minister's statement comes two days after auto makers said they were not comfortable with the government's move.

New Delhi, Jan 6 : Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath Wednesday said development of better roads and road network was the key to inclusive growth and safe travel.

"We have one accident every minute and one accidental death every four-and-a-half minutes on roads. This is not acceptable," Kamal Nath said at the formal inauguration of the 10th Auto Expo here.

"We need to strengthen our road network for seamless travel and all-round inclusive growth," he added.

Mumbai, Oct 29 : The government plans to execute mega road projects worth Rs. 5,000 crore with new guidelines, Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath said here Thursday.

Addressing a seminar here on India-United Arab Emirates (UAE) trade and investments, Kamal Nath said his ministry would issue the new specifications for road projects in 10 days.

New Delhi, Oct 22 : Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath on Thursday constituted a committee headed by Secretary (Road Transport and Highways) to look into Road Safety and Traffic Management issues in the country.

According to a press release of the Ministry the committee is a stopgap arrangement and will cease to exist once the National Road Safety and Traffic Management Board comes into existence.

New Delhi, Aug 10 : To attract foreign investment in the road sector in India, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath will inaugurate a road show in Zurich on Tuesday.

The road show “Building India: Road Infrastructure Summit “ is being jointly organized by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), ICICI Bank, J M Financial Consultants Ltd.& Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce.