Maintaining that road sector as key to the overall development and prosperity of people, Minister for Public Works Department, Naeem Akhtar said the government will achieve the target for construction of 818 Kms of road length under Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) by March 2019 in district Rajouri.The projected roads include 350 Kms length in Budhal division and 468 Kms in Rajouri division. Providing connectivity through state-of-art road infrastructure, tunnels and bridges, especially in rural and far-flung areas would be the topmost priority of the government with the declared objective of ensuring inclusive socio-economic development, said the Minister. While reviewing the progress of various on-going developmental projects under PMGSY and other sectors in Rajouri district, the minister directed the concerned engineers to make the process of execution of works hassle-free and focus on quality and timely completion of projects so that the benefits of these projects percolate down to the needy population. He called for strict adherence to norms, deadlines for completion of projects. He issued specific instructions to Deputy Commissioner, Rajouri to motivate the unemployed youth to establish the hot-mix plants and crushers to produce adequate raw material locally for construction and blacktopping of the roads as the present system is inadequate to meet the requirement.
It was given out in the meeting that under CRF, 3 roads are expected to be completed in next one and a half years with the estimated cost of Rs 100 Cr. Similarly, 80-meter Sukhtawi Nallah and 163-meter Badamang bridges are also targeted to be completed at a cost of Rs 6.5 Cr and 16.8 Cr respectively during the same period. It was further informed that under City and Town Scheme, 80 Kms road length has been macadamized in the current financial year with an expenditure of Rs 24 Cr.Minister expressed satisfaction over the progress of work on the construction of an administrative and academic block of Government Medical College (GMC), Rajouri which involves a cost of Rs 69 Cr. He directed the concerned to ensure earlier finalization of the contract of Rs 40 Cr for construction of hostels and residential quarters for students and faculty members. He impressed that the work on GMC must be completed within the stipulated time as it is a dream project of present dispensation which entails the creation of employment for hundreds of unemployed youths apart from boosting health sector in the in this strategic region.Among those present in the meeting included District Development Commissioner, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Chief Engineer PMGSY Jammu, S P Manhas, Addl. DDC, A S Chib, Addl. SP Mohd Yousuf, Superintending Engineer PWD Rajouri-Poonch, Majid Khan, XEN PWD Rajouri, Mushtaq Raina and field functionaries of the department.