Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that quality control must be ensured in all the projects of the PWD and the State Government would take strict action against the concerned officers. He said that the concerned contractor would also be blacklisted and not allowed to take part in the tenders. He said that Chief Engineers and Superintending Engineers must visit atleast two roads, one bridge and one building project per month and inspect the progress and submit the report to the Government. This would not only ensure fast completion of projects but also ensure quality works.Chief Minister was presiding over a review meeting of Public Works Department here today. Expressing concern over quality degradation in some works of the department, Jai Ram Thakur directed the officers that payment should not be released without checking quality of the construction for which inbuilt mechanism should be developed. He said that PWD should have its own lab. He said that training should be imparted to technicians and supervisory staff for keeping abreast with the latest techniques. Chief Minister that Rs. 1666 crore had been allocated under Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) for the year 2020-21 for construction of 4960 kms road length for connecting 230 habitations of the State.Jai Ram Thakur said that work on 1428 road, bridge and building projects had been started after relaxation in lockdown benefiting about 16450 workers. He directed if migrant labour was not available then plan should be prepared for deployment of local labour so that work on these projects could be completed within the stipulated period.
Chief Minister said that World Bank had approved Rs. 615 crore under H.P. State Road Transformation Project-II for building H.P. Transport Institutions and resilience, improving selected roads stimulating Horticulture and overall economic growth and enhancing road safety in the State. He said that under this project Barotiwala-Baddi Sai Ramshahar road having 44.95 kms. Dadhol Ladrour road of 13.50 kms, Raghunathpura-Mandi-Harpura-Bharari road having 2.70 kms and Mandi-Rewalsar Kalkhar road of 28 kms would be upgraded under component 2 of the project.Chief Minister said that works costing more than Rs. 10 crore would be taken up under Engineering, Procurement and Constructions (EPC) contract in the Public Works Department on the lines NH works with five years maintenance on pilot basis during current year. He said that targets must be achieved at the earliest that were fixed for the last financial year, which had been delayed due to lockdown in the wake corona pandemic.Jai Ram Thakur said that out of 3226 gram panchayats of the State 3142 panchayats had been connected with motorable roads and work for connecting 84 panchayats were in different stages. He said that now State Government was focusing to connect major habitations of the State. He said that Rs. 306 crore had been earmarked for annual maintenance of village roads, PMGSY roads and MDRs for current financial year. Chief Minister said that since the working season for metalling and tarring of roads was limited, effective steps should be taken to ensure timely completion of such works.Principal Secretary PWD J.C. Sharma welcomed the Chief Minister and conducted proceedings of the meeting.Chief Secretary Anil Khachi, Principal Secretary, Finance Prabodh Saxena, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Sanjay Kundu, Engineer in Chief, PWD Bhawan Sharma, Engineer in Chief Projects Lalit Bhushan, Chief Engineers and other senior officers of the department attended the meeting.