The Times of India       16.12.2010

PATNA: While the construction of roads by various agencies with fund provided the road construction department (RCD) and rural works department (RWD) has been going on despite financial constraints caused by the delay on the part of the Centre to release the required fund, CM Nitish Kumar on Wednesday directed the RCD to prepare a detailed `road maintenance policy'.

The CM was reviewing the works performed and the policy matters related to the two departments at a meeting held at the state headquarters on the day. RCD minister Nand Kishore Yadav, RWD minister Bhim Singh, chief secretary Anup Mukherjee, development commissioner K C Saha, respective departmental heads -- RWD principal secretary Shashi Shekhar Sharma and RCD secretary Pratyaya Amrit -- along with CM's secretaries Chanchal Kumar, S Siddharth and Atish Chandra participated in the review meet.

The CM told the officials concerned that the framing of the detailed maintenance policy was a must for the constant upkeep of the roads constructed in the state. Earlier, Amrit had said that the construction of all the roads required in the state would be completed by 2015.

The meet also expressed active concern over the delay on the part of the Centre in releasing the fund required to continue the construction of the roads already sanctioned.

With regard to the money pending against the RWD roads, the department has to construct 19,000 km of rural roads under Prime Minister's Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) at a cost of Rs 8,600 crore. However, the Centre had so far released only 23 per cent (or Rs 2,000 crore) of the total earmarked sum to be spent on the construction of roads for which sanction has already been given. By rule, the Centre has to release 50 per cent of the total sum against the sanctioned roads.

Incidentally, with resources of the state government, 2,500 km of PMGSY roads has already been completed, and the work has also been started on the construction of 15,000 km of such roads, which has resulted in dues worth Rs 1,000 crore payable to the state by the Centre. Consequently, the construction work has been hampered, the review meet felt, with the noting from the CM that the quality of roads under construction should be maintained.

As far as the RCD is concerned, it has completed the construction of 1,700 km of roads in the current fiscal, and by the end of this fiscal in March, the total length of the constructed roads would be 3,500 km.

Among other roads, 3,205 km of roads have been constructed at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore under CM Gram Sadak Yojana, and 2,786 km of roads at a cost of Rs 924 crore under Minimum Needs Programme, 1,346 km of roads at a cost of Rs 750 crore under Rural Infrastructure Development Programme, and 438 km of roads at a cost of Rs 199 crore under `Apki Sarkar, Apke Dwar' programme. Panchayat Bhawans have also been constructed in the Naxal-affected districts and in border districts under the same programme.