The Uttar Pradesh government claimed that in the present regime road construction in the state has gone up to 25 kilometers per day with a target to increase it to 35 kms per day from the 2018-19 financial year.
“The UP government has accelerated the pace of road construction in the state which used to be around 15 kms per day to 25 kms per day in six months of BJP regime. During the previous Samajwadi Party regime, road construction per day was only 15 km,’’ claimed Deputy CM and Public Works department minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in lucknow on Friday.
listing the priorities of his government, Maurya said, “Making roads pothole-free remains on top on his agenda followed by corruption-free development works in the state.’’
The minister said that the Public Works Department in technological cooperation with Bhabaha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) will conduct a training programme for departmental engineers for ensuring quality in road and other construction works.
“Beside making roads pothole-free, the government has taken measures to ensure the quality of roads. The government will also conduct third party inspection of road constructions for punitive action against officers and contractors who fail to comply with quality standards,” said Maurya.
The minister stressed that contractors with criminal background were being eliminated and six contractors have been blacklisted and the process of blacklisting 19 others was underway. He said that FIR has been lodged against one contractor and Special Task Force was conducting the inquiry.
Giving details of the six-month BJP regime in the state, Maurya said that by next fiscal, road construction would go up to 35 kms per day though it would be far behind the Central government which was constructing 40 kms of national highways per day.
The PWD minister said that presently 100 small and big bridges were under construction and the state government has set a target of constructing 150 bridges a year.
listing achievements of his department, Maurya said that the department has sent proposals to the Centre for upgradation of 109 State Highways as National Highways of which 73 proposals measuring 6,260 kms have been approved by the Centre so far.
Blaming the previous Samajwadi Party government for poor conditions of roads in the state, Maurya said that of the total road length of 1.21 lakh km in UP, 83,500 km roads are of the PWD.
“Of this over 73,000 km have been made pothole-free during the last six months. For ensuring quality of new under cosntruction roads, contractors and construction agencies would be held responsible if the road was damaged within few months of construction. The PWD has completed 61 road projects covering 760 kms in the last six months,” he said.
About UP State Bridge Construction Corporation under the PWD, the minister said that in 2017-18, the Corporation will construct 86 bridges of which 16 were completed in six months time. He said that the agency will construct 41 Rail Over Bridges (ROBs) during the current fiscal.
Maurya said that during the current fiscal, 1,670 km of roads will be widened to four-lane, 2,300 kms of roads will be strengthened and widened and new rural roads measuring 2,500 kms and 3,384 km of state highways would be constructed.
The minister said that major road projects were being implemented in cities like lucknow, Gorakhpur, Allahabad, Meerut, Bareilly and Moradabad.
Maurya said, “A 30 km bypass linking two national highways at the cost of Rs 1,500 crore is being done in Gorakhpur. In Allahabad, 76 km Inner Ring Road was being constructed at the cost of Rs 4,500 crore and a 4 km six-lane bridge on river Ganga was also under construction in Allahabad.”
The minister informed that an elevated road in lucknow, Ring Road and bypass were being constructed in Kanpur, Meerut, Bareilly and Moradabad at the cost of Rs 10,900 crore.