State aims to finish road repair works before Panchayat elections

MP | 25 Feb 2023 | Kolkata: With Panchayat polls expected to take place within the next two months, the state government is trying to ensure that the repairing and construction of rural roads are completed within the stipulated time. 

Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi is likely to hold a high-level meeting with the Panchayats and Rural Development department officials on Saturday to take stock of ongoing construction/repairing works in all the districts. 

Nabanna sources added that Dwivedi will review the progress in works which are undertaken under the ‘Pathashree’ scheme. 

The state government has already given a guideline to the districts on how the rural roads would be repaired or reconstructed. In the state Budget as well, Bengal has laid enormous emphasis on the construction of rural roads. 

The Panchayats and Rural Development (P&RD) department has been given directives to start repairing works and renovation of more than 8,500 village roads in March. The P&RD department is set to complete the tendering process and issue a work order within March 27. 

All the District Magistrates have been directed to submit details to the department as to which roads need to be undertaken for repairing works. 

The P&RD department has been asked to develop a special application and portal which will be used for geo-tagging the village roads which will be repaired. 

The concerned officials have to post in the portal the images of the village roads before and after the repair work. Tendering process will be done from either the DM or SDO or BDO office. 

The district administrations have been asked to carry out campaigns in the villages to make people aware about the state government’s initiatives of repairing all the roads which are in bad condition. 

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 2,000 to Rs 3,000 crore that has already been sanctioned. 

Chief Secretary Dwivedi, earlier this month, had held a meeting with concerned officials of the P&RD department and officials of the district administration in this regard. It has been 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. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/state-aims-to-finish-road-repair-works-before-panchayat-elections-509844