Chief Minister, Jai Ram Thakur directed the state Public Works Department (PWD) to fix the deadline of 31 March, 2018 for awarding the consultancy services for preparing the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of the 62 new declared National Highways. He was presiding over the review meeting of the department on Monday.

He said that the DPRs need to be prepared well in time and the work to be started on these National Highways at the earliest.

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At present there are 69 National highways of 4,400 kilometers length and 62 are with the state government, one with Border Roads Organisation, two with Himachal Pradesh Road and other Infrastructure Development Corporation (HPRIDC) and three with the National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL). One NH was jointly with government of HP and other agency.I want to see the groundwork done and so the people of the state expect the same from the PWD, he said. He added that up-gradation and maintenance of existing road projects should be expedited.

The CM directed that the department to prepare a road map for connecting all the left out panchayat headquarters with roads and further plan out to connect those villages and hamlets which were void of road connectivity till date.

The CM said that the department should plan in advance the number of kilometers required to be constructed in a financial year or the bridges to be built and should go for it to achieve the target.He said monitoring was an essential component of any work to be carried out and the officers concerned should monitor the works regularly and give necessary feedback.”The government will not compromise on the poor quality of work done and the delay or dilly-dallying tactics either by a contractor or anybody down the line in the department. By any means, if the work gets delayed without a valid reason, the concerned officials should be ready to face the action,” he said.

The CM advised to at-least fix a target for the works being implemented and supervise at-least three major ongoing works in a fortnight.

Additional Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary to CM, Manisha Nanda, Engineer-in-Chief, Chief Engineers and other senior officers of the PWD department were present in the meeting amongst others.