10,541 habitations and 2,968 gram panchayats had been connected with motorable roads in Himachal

10,541 habitations and 2,968 gram panchayats had been connected with motorable roads in the State and 2,786 kms. of new road and 185 bridges had been constructed during last 35 months in the State. This was revealed in a review meeting of the Public Works Department, held here under his Chairmanship of Prof Prem Kumar Dhumal, Chief Minister today. He said that there were 18,946 habitations in the state out of which 10,541 had been connected with road and 3,243 gram panchayats out of which 2,968 stood connected. He said that the State had a total 31,507 kms. of roads and 1,700 bridges out of which 18,835 kms. were metalled and tarred. He said that heavy recent rains had damaged the road network drastically where patch-up work had been completed on 6,53,317 square meters. and 9,292 kms. drains repaired.He underlined the need for according top priority to the existing road network since the new road requirements was reaching at saturation point.

Chief Minister said that financial evaluation of shortlisted companies for execution of three ambitious tunneling projects, Bhubujot, Bangana-Dhaneta and Holi-Utrala would be held on December 14, 2010 whereafter preparation of detailed project reports and execution of the project would be started for completion in a time bound manner. He said that the government was sensitive towards the environment protection and directed the executing agencies not to dump debris on road side but deposit the same in 1,025 dumping sites identified in different parts of the State on road sides convenient to the contractors. He said that 65 stretches had been identified for creation of wayside amenities out of which 6 sites had 1000 meters plus length and 59 sites of 500 meters length which would be developed to facilitate the tourists with all facilities at one place. He said that 536 black spots had been identified to install steel crash barriers where Rs. 100 crore would be spent by year 2014-15 out of which 25 had already been installed. He said that over five lakh tree had been planted on the road sides during past two years.

Prof. Dhumal said that work on Pinjore-Nalagarh-Kalka-Parwanoo double laning project was in progress while 10 road projects of 168.78 kms. length and valued at Rs. 322 crore were under execution as World Bank assistance Projects. He said that Gara Moura to Manali road project was also being upgraded to double lane with tunnel under the Swarghat to shorten the distance. He said that four-laning of Kalka-Shimla road was in progress while Pinjore-Nalagarh project was also being expedited. He said that few tunnels had also been proposed to be constructed to shorten the distance between Kalka and Shimla under the project.
He directed the authorities to improve and maintain the Bilaspur-Swarghat stretch of road to accommodate the smooth movement of heavy vehicles.

Chief Minister underlined the need for dedicated road fund creation and construction of more traffic tunnels in the state to shorten the geographical distances. He said that Kufri Bye-pass, Hamirpur Bye-pass, Palampur Bye-pass, Sundernagar Bye-pass, Manali Bye-pass, Joginder Nagar Bye-pass and Theog Bye-pass projects were at different stages of execution and were likely to be completed in a time bound manner to decongest the urban areas. He directed the authorities to clean the roads of the abandoned and condemned vehicles and take action against their owners for unauthorized dumping of their vehicles. He also directed the authorities to optimally use the plastic collected by urban and local bodies for road construction and provide adequate number of shredding machines to the executing agencies to prepare the raw material. He said that all departments would be made accountable for collecting plastic waste within their jurisdiction. He lauded the role of the department in maintenance of roads during rainy season and directed them to carry repairs and maintenance works in a time bound manner.

Shri Gulab Singh Thakur, Public Works Minister, said that the top priority was being accorded to maintenance of roads in the areas which were worst affected due to the rainy season. He said that the targets fixed for the current financial year would be achieved positively by the closure of the current financial year.

Smt. Rajwant Sandhu, Chief Secretary, underlined the need for utilization of available manpower with the department for repair of government buildings, residential accommodations as also upgradation of the skill of qualified staff working on daily wages to fill the vacancies at higher level.

Dr. P.C.Kapoor, Principal Secretary, PWD, welcomed the Chief Minister and conducted the proceedings of the meeting. He assured the Chief Minister that the department would fully meet the targets fixed for current financial year.

Shri T.G.Negi, Principal Secretary AR, Shri K.K.Pant, Secretary Finance, Dr. Arun Sharma, Principal Private Secretary to the Chief Minister, Shri Mohan Chauhan, Special Secretary PWD, Shri N.L.Sharma, Engineer-in-Chief, PWD, Shri K.K.Kampani, Engineer-in-Chief, Quality Control, Shri Vijay Uppal, Chief Architect, Dr. S.K.Shad, Advisor Planning, Chief Engineers from different wings of the departments and Zones were present in the meeting.

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