Nitish emphasises better upkeep of rural roads

Better maintenance of rural roads has become essential due to the rise in population and more people owning vehicles in village as a result of improved standards of living, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Monday.

Chairing a meeting here held to review the functioning of the rural works department, the chief minister said to ensure better upkeep of rural roads a provision has been made in the policy for maintenance of these to bring complaints under the states Right to Public Grievances Redressal Act.

"Our pledge has been to connect each tola (locality) in every village with roads. Please ensure that this objective is achieved at the earliest.

"Work in tandem with the department for forestry and environment so that our thrust on afforestation is taken care of while building roads, Kumar said.

Construction of all-weather roads in every villages forms part of Kumar's 'seven resolves', which the state government has adopted as policy of good governance since 2015.

Improving green cover is part of "Jal-Jivan-Hariyali Abhiyan" launched by him this year.

The cm told officials to ensure that there was no shortage of engineers and other technical officials in the rural works department and suggested that innovative methods like the use of plastic waste be considered for construction of roads in villages.

At the meeting, the chief minister was briefed about progress in schemes like "Mukhyamantri Grameen Sadak Yojana" and action being taken against officials found to be lax during inspection carried out by engineers of the department periodically.

Minister for rural works department Shailesh Kumar and the departments Principal Secretary Vinay Kumar, besides Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar, Development Commissioner Arun Kumar Singh and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Chanchal Kumar were among those who attended the meeting.