In a bid to provide road connectivity for the uncovered areas, the J&K government has fixed a target to construct 4500 kilometers of road under PMGSY scheme during the 2021-22 financial year.
The construction of new roads is likely to connect new 150 habitations across J&K that san basic road facilities.
As per the official documents, the government has also fixed a target to complete work on 14 bridges which will benefit around 2.85 lakh population.
To improve the road connectivity and construction of bridges, the J&K government has also allocated Rs 4089 crore as annual budget during 2021-22 for the road and bridges sector of J&K.
“The allocation is Rs 467 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation for this sector,” the official document reads.
The enhanced allocation has been made for the roads and bridges sector at a time when the majority of the roads in city and towns have developed potholes, giving tough time to the commuters as well as damaging the vehicles.
The roads across Kashmir are in need of immediate attention and repair work needs to be started to ease the travel of the commuters.
Besides taking up new road projects and expediting work on bridges, the government is also planning to launch an Online Monitoring System wherein all the project works from preparation of DPR to final bill payment will be done through the online mode.
Emphasis is being laid on establishment of quality control laboratories for every district to keep a check on the quality of material and work to have better life and durability of the roads and bridges across J&K,” the official document reads.
“National level consultants will also be engaged for development of mechanisms for monitoring roll-out of 3rd party inspection systems,” it reads. The official data states that besides construction of road length of 4500 kilometers during 2021-22 under PMGSY I and I1, the government is also planning to sanction 1750 kilometers road length for up-gradation in 2021-22.
“Under PMGSY I, Core Network for connecting habitations having 250 above persons as per census 2011 are targeted to ensure 100 percent road connectivity in J&K by 2021-22,” the official data reads.
The government has also set a target for completing black-topping of 8000 kilometers of roads during 2021-22 under cities and towns, PMGSY and NABARD. “Rs 100 crore has been already provided and further Rs.150 crore is being provided in 2021-22 for ensuring pothole free roads across J&K,” the document reads.
