The Union Government hasgiven its sanction to construct five roads measuring 570 km with an estimated cost of Rs 10000 Crores under its Bharatmala project in Uttarakhand. The information was provided by the Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari while undertaking a review meeting of the ongoing projects of the state on Monday.
The sanctioned projects include 94 km long Baijnath- Tharali- Karanprayag road, 147 km long Askot- Dharchula- Malpa- lipulekh road, 216 km long Baijnath- Bageshwar- Kapkote- Munsiyari- Jolivi road, 51 long Mana- Musa Pani- Mana pass road and 63 km long Joshimath- Malari road.
The Union minister claimed that by the year 2019, Uttarakhand would become a changed state as most of the projects would get completed by then. He further informed that by the year 2019 road projects worth Rs 50000 Crore would be undertaken in the State. Gadkari said that ten trees should be planted for every tree cut for All weather road project.
The Union minister and the State chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat took in depth review of the progress of Char Dham All weather road. The officials informed that works have been awarded for 400 km stretch out of total 900 km under the mega project. Gadkari directed the officials to take up a target of completing the process of tenders of the project by March this year. The Minister was informed that work on 4.5 km long Silkyara tunnel connecting Ganga and Yamuna valleys would soon start. It was also decided that all projects coming under eco sensitive zones would be directly sent to the union forest ministry. One of an interesting aspect of the meeting was presence of representatives of the contractors of the road projects. The Minister listened to the grievances of the contractors and ordered immediate solutions. Gadkari expressed displeasure at slow pace adopted by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). The CM Rawat said that the state government is according top priority to all projects of the Union government.
He asked the officers to remain sensitive towards work quality, problems of the people and time bound completion of all the projects. The meeting was attended by the Union minister of state Ajay Tamta, Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, State minister Dhan Singh Rawat and Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh.