Jammu, July 26

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo has asked the officials of different departments to complete various road projects across the union Territory within stipulated time period.

Dulloo chaired a meeting to take stock of ongoing works on various roads and bridges under PMGSY, CRIF, NABARD and UT Capex across Jamp;K.

The Chief Secretary, during this meeting, inquired about the starting dates of works on these Roads and Bridges taken under different phases of PM Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), Central Road Infrastructure Fund (CRIF), NABARD funding and UT Capex.

He noted that the work on remaining 11 habitations under phase-I of PMGSY needs to be expedited under every circumstances besides strenuous efforts should be made to complete works on Long Span Bridges (LSBs) under progress in various districts.

Dulloo observed that since reorganisation of department, there is sufficient manpower including senior engineers available in peripheral areas. He maintained that this should entail into better supervision and quality outcomes for the department.

He exhorted upon the senior functionaries of PWD like chief engineers and SEs to take field visits on regular basis to remain updated of works being undertaken in their respective jurisdictions. He stressed on ensuring timely completion of projects by closely monitoring their pace on ground.

The Chief Secretary also advised the officers to take swift action in resolution of bottlenecks like land compensation, seeking forest clearances or other contractor related concerns. He asked them to avail the assistance of divisional/district administrations for executing swift actions on ground.

In his presentation, Secretary, PWD, gave an overview of the works in progress under these programmes. He highlighted the achievements made by the department in past few years regarding completion of roads, bridges and blacktopping of thousands of kilometers of riding surfaces all across the UT. He said the department is making all efforts to take up the 1,820 unconnected habitations under PMGSY-IV having around 100-250 households as per 2011 census.

It was revealed that 294 projects had been taken under CRIF at a cumulative cost of Rs 4,317 crore of which 173 works stand completed till date.