Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav today charged the Centre of neglecting the construction of national highways in Bihar.
"Bihar has been completely ignored by the Centre vis-a-vis construction of roads, which is evident from the target set by the NH wing of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping ministry for 2016-17," Yadav said.
Yadav, who holds the road construction department, said the NH wing has set a target of constructing 4,243 km of roads in Maharashtra against Bihar's target of 212 km of roads, which was just two per cent of the total target of 11,500 km set for the entire nation in 2016-17.
He said the ministry has also "neglected" Bihar on account of widening of NHs, and out of 7,000 kms of NH roads set as target for widening across the country, Maharashtra has been awarded the work for 1,346 km while Bihar has been awarded 184 kms in 2016-17.
The deputy chief minister said the three bridges mentioned in the special package annunced by the Prime Minister has not made any significant progress except inviting tenders for preparation of DPRs for these bridges.
As per the special package, the three bridges included a four-lane bridge parallel to the existing Mahatma Gandhi Setu in Patna on river Ganga, an bridges on Kosi and Sone rivers.
Similarly, work on 1,800 kms of state highway roads, which have been upgraded to NH has not made any progress too except inviting tender for the preparation of DPR, he alleged.
He said the Railways have "not initiated" work for construction of ROBs despite the state government giving in writing that it would give 50 per cent as its share for construction of 26 ROBs sanctioned in the past six months, besides 27 ROBs which were pending for the past five years.
Yadav said he has written several letters to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and also met him in May in this regard.
The deputy chief minister said he had suggested that Bihar government and Railways should sign an MoU on the lines of those signed between the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Railways.
