Bihar: Dialogue session of Rural Road Strengthening and Management Program organized in Patna
The Nitish Kumar led government of Bihar has given special attention to the strengthening of rural roads in the state. The Rural Works Department organized a dialogue session on the implementation of the Rural Road Strengthening and Management Program on Friday, 13 December 2024 at the Convention Hall, Patna. It is known that on 22 November 2024, in Patna, the Rural Road Strengthening and Management Program was launched as a new component under the Chief Minister Rural Road Upgradation Scheme for regular and systematic reconstruction/upgradation/renewal of rural roads by the Honorable Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar.
Addressing the dialogue session, Honorable Minister Dr. Ashok Chaudhary said that quality construction and maintenance of rural roads are among the priorities of the state government. He said that with this program, the dream of the Honorable Chief Minister of quality roads in any remote area of the state will come true and continuous maintenance of rural roads will be possible. Under the able leadership of the Honorable Chief Minister, about 1,18,000 km of rural roads have been constructed across the state, which is a big achievement in itself. He praised the work of the Chief Secretary, Shri Amrit Lal Meena, Deepak Kumar Singh, Additional Chief Secretary, Rural Works Department and other officials of the department.
Chief Secretary, Shri Amrit Lal Meena, who participated in the dialogue session through video conferencing, directed that special arrangements should be made to ensure that the rural roads of the state are maintained continuously through new technologies. The Chief Secretary said that if any contractor does not maintain the rural roads continuously, action should be taken against them and financial deduction should be made. He also directed to strengthen the rural roads of the state before the rains.
The Chief Secretary directed the contractors in the dialogue session that all the officers and departmental personnel participating in the tender process will have to ensure that they fulfill their obligations under this new process. Also, all efforts will be made at the departmental level to remove any problem arising in the tender process. Rectification or re-working of bad works will be the basic duty of the contractors. During the implementation of this program, the Key Person (Engineer & Supervisor) will be present at the site for the entire duration of the implementation of this program and it will be their responsibility to submit the bill of Input Based work done (Initial Rectification, Minor Improvement if required & Surface Renewal) every 28th day. That bill will be checked by the Junior Engineer within 7 days and submitted to the Assistant Engineer. The Assistant Engineer will submit that bill to the Executive Engineer after checking it within 3 days. The Executive Engineer will complete all the procedures of checking the bill received and ensure payment to the contractor within a maximum of 10 days. In this way, payment of the total work done can be ensured within 21 days.
Giving detailed information about the program, Chief Engineer Shri Bhagwat Ram told the contractors that under this program, all the damaged paved rural roads constructed under various schemes under the Rural Works Department and outside the five-year maintenance/Defect Liability period till 31 March 2024 and not yet approved will be de-activated. PR has to be prepared and approved as per rules. Tendering will be done under the approved 'Rural Road Strengthening and Management Program' for those roads which are out of maintenance and in their place. Under this scheme, proper care will be taken of the selected roads for the next seven years while ensuring their quality. Repair work will be done on the blackened part of the road twice during this period so that the riding quality of the roads is maintained. Also, the Rural Works Department will ensure that it will be mandatory for the contractor to keep a Rapid Response Vehicle on each road so that any defect can be rectified within the stipulated time limit.
Retired Chief Engineer of Road Construction Department Mr. Chandrashekhar, Retired Chief Engineer Mr. Sanjay Kumar and Retired Chief Engineer Mr. Ramesh Kumar Singh also guided the contractors so that the roads constructed by the Rural Works Department also get the benefit of the expertise of experts related to road construction. Chief Engineer Mr. Shriprakash, Rural Works Department and other officials of the department were present in the program.