Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Sept 13: Minister for Roads & Buildings Abdul Majid Wani chaired a meeting of the Governing Body of J&K State Rural Roads Development Agency here today to review the implementation and the status of various on-going projects under the Central Government’s Flagship Programme namely Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, Commissioner Secretary, R&B Tanveer Jehan, Commissioner Secretary, Fore-sts, Sheikh Aijaz Iqbal, Commissioner Secretary, Revenue, Vinod Koul, Commis-sioner Secretary, Rural Development, Farooq Peer, Director Budget, Mohammad Ishac Wani , Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Abhay Kumar, Director Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Planning and Development Department, S S Jamwal and Chief Engineers PMGSY Kashmir, Jammu were present in the meeting.
While highlighting the importance of road connectivity in the rural areas, the Minister said that better roads are vital for ensuring all round development and improving the socio-economic conditions of the rural folk. He said the road communication always proves a strong backbone for the village population which provide easy accessibility to them with their counterparts living in other parts of the area. Owing to this, the Government has been giving focused attention to strengthen this vital sector and during the past over one decade a remarkable progress has been registered in developing the rural road infrastructure.
Expressing satisfaction on the performance of the Agency, the Minister directed for judicious use of funds and maintaining quality of works strictly as per the specifications laid down by the Government. He sought strict action against the defaulter contractors and directed for blacklisting those who do not honour the projects allotted to them. He emphasized the need for close coordination among the agencies involved in the implementation of PMGSY Programme for achieving the better results. He stressed for early settlement of land acquisition and forest clearance cases for ensuring timely completion of projects.
The meeting was informed about the phase-wise physical and financial details of PMGSY projects. As many as 2038 projects with 10506 kilometres road length at an estimated cost of Rs. 5486.14 crore covering 2184 habitations were taken-up under Phase I to IX. Out of which, 828 projects with 4673 kilometres road length covering 1463 habitations have been completed by ending August, 2013. An amount of Rs. 2228.79 crore has been spent on these projects. During 2012-13, 659 road projects were sanctioned, out of which 365 have been awarded so far and works are in progress.
The meeting also discussed several other issues of importance and concerning the scheme which included action taken report of new road projects proposed in Phase-X, e-tendering, remote sensing techniques, capacity augmentation and engagement of consultants etc. The main emphasis was to achieve the targets in time and judicious use of funds. The Minister stressed the need for improving the monitoring mechanism to ensure quality control and to clear bottlenecks for speedy completion of projects.
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