Chandigarh, October 31:
Punjab Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian on Friday said that the CM Flying Squad, constituted by Chief Minister S. Bhagwant Singh Mann to ensure the best quality of roads being repaired & upgraded by Punjab Mandi Board & PWD, has been rigorously monitoring the ongoing upgradation and repair work of rural link roads across the state.
This monitoring is part of the state government’s massive project to upgrade and repair 19,491 kilometres of link roads at a cost of Rs 4150 crore.
Affirming that the finest quality of material is being used to lay, upgrade & repair the roads, the Agriculture Minister issued a stern warning that strict action will be taken against any contractor found compromising with the quality of material.
S. Gurmeet Singh Khudian informed that the CM Flying Squad teams are actively on the ground and have already covered seven districts, including Faridkot, SBS Nagar, Tarn Taran, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Jalandhar, Patiala and Gurdaspur.
S. Khudian said that there are total 30,237 Link Roads in Punjab with a total length of 64,878 kilometres adding that 33492 kilometres are under Punjab Mandi Board and 31, 386 kilometres are under the Public Works Department (PWD). He said that the Punjab Government is now starting a project to repair and upgrade 7,373 link roads with a total length of 19,491.56 kilometers.
He said that the project will cost Rs 4,150.42 crore, which includes five years of maintenance adding that Rs 3,424.67 crore will be spent for repair and upgradation whereas Rs 725.75 crore will be spent for five year maintenance. An Artificial Intelligence (AI) survey conducted for these roads resulted in savings of Rs 383.53 crore, he added.
The Agriculture Minister said that to ensure public safety during foggy or dark conditions, a special road safety project is being implemented on the repaired and upgraded link roads at a cost Rs 91.83 crore. A three inch wide white strip will be painted on both sides of the link roads to make travel safer during fog or darkness, he added.
