Nitish issues instructions for better upkeep of roads

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today stressed on better upkeep of roads in the state to ensure trouble-free journey for commuters.
Chairing a meeting of the state Road Construction Department here, the CM issued instructions for bringing state highways and other roads under the output and performance-based road maintenance contract (OPRMC).
The meeting which was attended, among others, by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and minister for road construction department Nand Kishore Yadav, an official statement said.
Briefing the Chief Minister on the occasion, Principal Secretary, Road Construction department, Amrit Lal Meena said that the centrally-sponsored "Bharatmala" scheme proposes to build 35,000 kms of roads across the country of which 1432 kms would fall in Bihar.

He said this would involve construction of roads on important routes like Aurangabad-Darbhanga, Sasaram-Patna, Chhapra-Patna and Patna-Hajipur-Muzaffarpur.
A video presentation was also made before the Chief Minister of the "Ram Manohar Lohia Path Chakra", an integrated movement circuit aimed at decongesting traffic in and around the state capital.
The Chief Minister told the officials to keep the alignment of the proposed Patna Metro in mind while going ahead with the work on "Ram Manohar Lohia Path Chakra".
Other officials who were present at today's meeting included Principal Secretary, Water Resources, Arun Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, Power, Pratyay Amrit and Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Chanchal Kumar.