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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to immediately repair roads damaged by heavy rain and floods and make them motorable, while ordering permanent renovation of roads wherever required after the monsoon.
Chairing a review meeting of the Public Works Department on Friday, CM Yogi said the rains were still continuing, and officials should maintain constant vigil over the condition of roads. He also directed authorities to conduct surveys of roads newly damaged by rain and identify stretches requiring urgent intervention. The Chief Minister said large numbers of people would travel during the upcoming festival season and stressed that there should be no difficulty on major routes. He directed officials to complete necessary repair and renovation work on priority routes before the festivals. CM Yogi made it clear that the pothole-free road campaign should not remain limited to patchwork. Where roads are currently in a severely damaged condition, he said they should first be made motorable immediately, while permanent renovation should be undertaken after the rainy season wherever necessary. During the meeting, officials informed the Chief Minister that several roads had been damaged not only because of excessive rainfall but also due to the movement of heavy vehicles linked to construction projects involving expressways, national highways and railways. Department-wise surveys of such roads are being conducted, and targets for pothole repair will be fixed after the damaged stretches are identified. Keeping the upcoming festivals in mind, 681 important routes have been identified across the state. These include roads expected to witness increased movement during festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Vishwakarma Puja, Navratri, Diwali, Chhath Puja and Kartik Purnima. The government plans to prioritise these routes for repairs and maintenance. Yogi also sought details of the action plan being prepared by officials of the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. He reviewed plans of the Mandi Parishad, Panchayati Raj, Irrigation, Rural Development, Urban Development, Housing and Urban Planning, and Infrastructure and Industrial Development departments. According to the departments presentation, roads under nine departments, covering around 4.36 lakh kilometres, are part of the pothole-free campaign. The current target is to make around 50,000 kilometres of roads pothole-free, of which work on around 5,751 kilometres has already been completed. The department has set a target of around 30,000 kilometres for renovation and around 5,000 kilometres for special repairs. Progress of around 14,000 kilometres in renovation and 700 kilometres in special repairs was reported at the meeting. The Chief Minister directed officials to prioritise roads leading to educational institutions, hospitals, major markets, government offices and other locations with high public footfall. He stressed that work should begin immediately wherever repairs are required and that both speed and quality must be maintained. The meeting was attended by Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh, Industrial Development Minister Nand Gopal Gupta Nandi, Panchayati Raj Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar, Minister of State for Public Works Brajesh Singh, Minister of State for Industrial Development Jaswant Singh Saini, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Ram Kesh Nishad and Minister of State for Rural Development Vijay Lakshmi Gautam. (ANI)
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