Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Ajay Chandrakar has said that roads are the backbone of rural development and no compromise will be tolerated on quality of roads.
Speaking at a workshop organised on quality of roads constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) Chandrakar acknowledged that condition of roads constructed under PMGSY is not good and it warranted special attention.
He said that PMGSY has brought a change in the life of people and the roads are backbone of rural development. Apart from maintaining quality of roads, the works should be completed within the stipulated time.
Chandrakar directed the engineers to complete the pending works approved in 2012-13 within 15 days. The Superintending Engineer should himself attend to the pending and incomplete matters related to completion of works.
“The Superintending Engineer will be held responsible for sub-standard quality of roads under PMGSY if found,’ said Chandrakar.
He said that the Executive Engineers should conduct spot inspection and strict action will be taken if they fail to do so. Chandrakar informed that approval has been received for culverts under part-2 of Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for insurgency hit districts.
National Road Quality Observer Al Sancheti said that Chhattisgarh is the first state to have a laboratory van and it should be ensured that the mobile laboratory works properly and not just completes formalities.
Additional Chief Secretary MK Raut addressed the grievances of the contractors attending the workshop and issued directives to the officers to make the DPR for road construction more practical.
The State’s Road Quality Observers put forward the shortcomings in field inspections and gave suggestions for improvement. Representing the State Technical Agency Rajesh Tripathi presented the technical aspects during the workshop.
CEO of Chhattisgarh Rural Road Development Authority Sudhir Agrawal, Additional Commissioner (Development) Subhash Mishra, and other officials were present in the workshop.