Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra has issued a directive to officials asking them to complete the works of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) as per schedule.
The directive was issued in a meeting called to review the development of national highways and transport system on Thursday.
In his address, the chief secretary said that before the Maha Kumbh, the work of Prayagraj ring road and by-pass should be completed with the prescribed standard and quality.
He said apart from this, the work of Rae Bareli-Prayagraj section of National Highway 24B and Pratapgarh-Sultanpur-Ayodhya section of National Highway 330 should be completed before the upcoming Maha Kumbh as a heavy traffic was expected during the religious festival.
Mishra said the construction of a new 6-lane bridge and approach road on National Highway 96 in Phaphamau by the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry should be completed by December 2023.
“It is very important to strengthen the Prayagraj-Gorakhpur highway in view of Maha Kumbh so the work on these routes should be completed by the NHAI at the earliest,” the chief secretary said.
The chief secretary was informed in the meeting that the work for widening the 25 km long 4-lane road in Varanasi from Andawa to Handia was going on and would be completed by June, 2024. On this, the chief secretary instructed the officers to complete this work by the end of 2023.
The NHAI officials informed the chief secretary that work on preparing the detailed project report (DPR) of Jasra Bazar bypass (about 5 km length) on National Highway 76 was in progress. They said a rail over bridge (ROB) was to be constructed on the bypass.
This project is included in the list of annual projects of the Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry for the year 2022-23. The chief secretary said that after the DPR approval, the construction of the bypass should be started at the earliest.
Apart from this, the chief secretary directed the officials to expedite the works after reviewing the progress of connecting all the district headquarters of the state with 4-lane roads.
In the meeting, Additional Secretary, Union Road Transport and Highways Ministry, Amit Kumar Ghosh, Infrastructure and Industrial Development Commissioner Arvind Kumar, Principal Secretary (Public Works Department) Narendra Bhushan, Principal Secretary (Housing and Urban Planning) Nitin Ramesh Gokarn, Secretary (PWD) Ajay Chouhan, and officials of UP State Highway and NHAI were present.