Chief Minister Raghubar Das unveiled the newly built four-lane stretch of Ramgarh-Patratu Road on Saturday and expressed that the State Government was committed to the development of roads in Jharkhand to establish a strong network of inter-State and inter-district roads to pave the way for the industrial progress and tourism promotion.
The 27-km long Ramgarh-Patratu Road was built at an estimated cost of Rs250-crore and features three Rail Over Bridges, seven bridges and eight bus stops along the picturesque road. The newly constructed road would further facilitate transportation of minerals from Patratu to other parts of the State. The unveiling event was organised at Ramgarh Army Ground.
“Patratu is a mineral rich area and the entire zone is known for coal mines and thermal power plants. Construction of Ramgarh-Patratu road would cast positive effect on industrial and agricultural production of the area. Also, the road would help in reducing unemployment and poverty alleviation besides fuelling social and economic development,” maintained Das.
The four-lane part of the road linking the two small towns would help around 50 villages situated along the road besides providing a smooth connectivity to the people of Patratu, Bhurkunda, Barkakana and Ramgarh. Das said, people of these areas can improve their standard of life by using the road.
Significantly, the State government is likely to sanction big-ticket projects for the development of roads in Ramgarh to boost tourism activity in the region which is abode of Goddess Chhinnmastika.
Das said the proposals include construction of Petarwar-Rajrappa, Kujju-Rajrappa, Charhi-Ghato roads and a bridge over Bhairavi River. He said, around Rs450-crore would be used for industrial growth and Hazaribagh-Barkagaon-Raikhelari-Tangar road would be constructed for that. Attention is being given on public-private-partnership mode of development for roads besides developing roads with assistance from Asian Development Bank, said CM.
“Government is developing 3000-km long roads in Jharkhand in the current financial year,” asserted Das. Das added, Jamshedpur-Ranchi-Dhanbad expressway would be developed as an Industrial Corridor Golden Triangle.
The CM shed light on steps taken by the State government for becoming self-dependent on power supply and said that the government has signed agreement for a new plant with Tenughat Vidyut Nigam limited. The government has signed an agreement with National Thermal Power Plant to handover operations of Patratu Thermal Power Plant.
Das informed the gathering at the Army Ground that the government is striving to make Ranchi an IT hub. The event was attended by Union Minister of State for Finance, Jayant Sinha; Minister DWSD, CP Chaudhary; MlA Nirmala Devi and Principal Secretary, Road Construction, Rajbala Verma.