Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Saturday directed the officers of the Public Works Department (PWD) to ensure time bound completion of all ongoing projects to avoid cost escalation.

After the review meeting of PWD, Thakur said top priority must be given to the Chief Ministers’ announcements and to those projects whose foundation stones of which had been laid and to those which were nearing completion.

“Roads are the mirror of the development of any state as people gauge the development by the condition of the roads and stress must be laid on construction of quality roads as a compromise in quality would be viewed seriously.

Strict action would be taken against the erring officers and contractors, responsible for the poor quality of roads and bridges, besides unnecessary delay in the works,” he added.

He congratulated the Public Works Department for securing the second position at National level for successful implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in the state.

He said the PMGSY programme funded by the Centre government had proved a boon to connect habitations having a population of more than 250 in the state.

Mandi district has bagged top position in the country among all 30 top districts of the country and as many as seven districts of the state were amongst the top thirty districts in achieving maximum length under PMGSY during the year 2020-21, he said.

He further stated that this has been possible due to the hard work of the department and their focused approach.

The Chief Minister expressed concern over the delay in allocation of various projects for execution and directed the officers of the department to evolve mechanisms to reduce the time for awarding of works.

He said that works must be awarded immediately and in case of any problem the issue must be brought to the knowledge of the higher authorities. He said that greater focus must be laid on optimum use of IT and modern technology in the execution of the projects. He directed the NHAI authorities for ensuring proper maintenance of various NHAI projects in the state and said the National Highways should be maintained properly and any laxity in this regard would be viewed seriously.

He said that all the potholes along all the National Highways must be filled by 3rd of next month.

“As many as 219 projects have been sanctioned under NABARD from 1st January 2018 till date worth Rs 894.38 crore. Similarly, 28 road projects worth Rs 747.08 crore have been sanctioned under CRIF in the state during the tenure of the present state government.

HP State Road Transformation Project is also being implemented in the state which was worth Rs 799.68 crore.

The project is being implemented under three components, which includes reestablishing and operationalizing HPRIDC and building resilience, improving selected roads stimulating the state’s horticulture and overall economic growth and enhancing road safety.

He added for the first time assessment has been done to identify division wise roads, on which snow clearance activities need to be undertaken as and when required.

Dedicated human resource deployment roster was being formulated which would coordinate with disaster management authorities of respective districts at divisional, district and sub-divisional level in event of such requirement, Thakur added.