State to build nearly 11K km roads at Rs 2K to Rs 3K crore
kolkata: The state government has decided to take up construction of nearly 11,000 km of rural roads before the Panchayat elections in the state.
As per estimates of the state Panchayats and Rural Development (P&RD) department, the construction of the roads will entail an expenditure to the tune of Rs 2000 to 3000 crore which has already been sanctioned.
Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi held a meeting with concerned officials of the P&RD department and officials of the district administration on Saturday and made it clear that the work order for these roads should be handed over by March 18, following which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will mark the beginning of the setting up of the rural roads.
About 10,600 km of rural roads will be taken up and roads that are in battered conditions will also be repaired.
Funds received under PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sarak Yojana) and state funds will be utilised for the construction of the road.
It is learnt that the P&RD department has already come up with a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and the survey of the roads will start soon. The roads surveyed should be geo-tagged and photographs sent to the top bureaucratic level in the state.
Chief Secretary has directed the concerned officials to undertake the tendering of the roads with complete transparency and at the same time ensure that good quality materials are used for the construction.
“There have been allegations that roads have got damaged in a short time and needed to be repaired again. Chief Secretary wants the quality of materials should not be compromised with during road construction so that they are durable. If the same roads need to be constructed time and again, it also entails more expenditure,“ an official of P&RD department said.
A nodal officer will be appointed in each block for monitoring the road construction. They will also be examining the materials used for constructing roads.
All engineers upto the rank of executive engineers have been called for a meeting on Monday by the Panchayat department secretary for apprising them of the outcome of the Chief Secretary’s meeting.It has been decided that roads which will involve an expenditure of upto Rs 50 lakhs will be done at the block level, upto Rs 1 crore in the district level while those above Rs 1 crore will be executed at the state level.
