Rs 2,600 crore to be spent on upgrade of rural roads in Himachal: Vikramaditya Singh

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Mandi, December 8

Public Works Department Minister Vikramaditya Singh said today that Rs 2,600 crore would be spent on the improvement and expansion of roads in the state with the use of new technology under the third phase of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

He was here today to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of development works worth about Rs 50 crore in Sadar Assembly constituency of Mandi district. MP and state Congress president Pratibha Singh was also present on this occasion. The minister said the government was working on qualitative improvement of roads.

He inaugurated a bridge built on the Ganpati Nullah near Mandi town at a cost of Rs 2.8 crore. Mandi Sadar MLA Anil Sharma was also present.

Vikramaditya and MP Pratibha Singh performed the “bhoomi pujan” of the Ganpati road to be upgraded at a cost of Rs 21.71 crore and laid the foundation stone of the Khalyana-Matyari road to be constructed at a cost of Rs 5 crore. The minister also inaugurated the Kotli-Nainadevi bus service from the Kotli bus stand.

Vikramaditya addressed public meetings at Khad-Kalyana, Kasana and Bhargaon. He said that his priority was to speed up development works. Despite lack of resources, development work would not be allowed to stop. He said all problems of this Assembly, including education, roads, health and drinking water would be solved soon.

“The state government is fully committed to helping the youth in self-employment. The government has approved Rajiv Gandhi Start Up Scheme of Rs 680 crore for this purpose. In this, a provision of 50 per cent subsidy on the purchase of e-taxi has also been made,” he added.

He said the contractors who did not complete the work in phase one and two of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana would not be given any road construction contract in the third phase.