In a bid to decongest traffic which often gets stuck in the bottleneck near Dat Kali temple, the State Government has decided to build another tunnel along the existing tunnel at a cost of Rs 70 crore in Dehradun.
For this, the Government has released first installment of Rs 1.70 crore and now officials are busy in preparation of foundation laying ceremony presided over by Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, in Dehradun. This was disclosed by the Planning Minister Dinesh Aggrawal after convening a review meeting on irrigation, national highway, PMGSY and PWD departments in Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday.
He said that huge jam is witnessed everyday and people have no option but to just face the inconvenience. Taking cognisance of this, the State Government has decided to build a separate tunnel here so that traffic speed increases. Now, the State Government is giving emphasis on executing it on ground as soon as possible.
Once completed, the travel time between Dehradun to Delhi or Delhi to Dehradun via Dat Kali route will be lesser than now. He also said that Rs 4.32 crore for radial road in between Mahendra showroom to Mothrowala, Rs 4.06 crore for widening of road and Rs 11.56 crore for Doiwala to Dudhli. He reiterated that the State Government is consistently making effort on overall development of the State, including backward areas. There is a need to expedite the execution of Government schemes on ground.
He instructed the department concerned who execute Government works on ground, to be vigilant on quality and black list the contractors who either failed to deliver the work on time or compromise on quality. “You also cancel such tender,” he said.
Aggrawal expressed anguish over the slow progress on four-lane work of Haridwar bypass road, which was sanctioned in 2012 and was supposed to be completed by March 2014; so he instructed to impose penalty of Rs 10 lakh on the contractors. He also disclosed that Rs 1.08 crore released for construction of cemented embankment between Niranjanpur to Bypass Bridge. With this completion Brahmapuri, Rajivnagar, Chamanpur, lohianagar residents will get ease.
He also instructed Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) officials to expedite the construction work of Mothrowala road and “if contractor fails to execute then you change the contractor”. Taking cognisance on road damaged due to incessant rains in Dehradun districts, he instructed the official to prepare a list and present before the Dehradun district magistrate.
“It has also noticed that river has changed its course in Mothrowala; so you resume its normal course with the help of JCB machine, but you must take prior permission from DM.” He categorically instructed Irrigation, PWD, PMGSY and NH officials to expedite their execution work; otherwise, the government would take stringent action against them. Other officials including Executive engineer of NH HO Sharma, Executive engineer of PWD BC Binwal; Executive engineer CPWD Dehradun BN Choudhary, Executive engineer PMGSY Dehradun SK Srivastava and others were present at the meeting.