Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary today laid the foundation stone for six major road projects worth Rs. 91.05 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in Jammu district. The foundation stones were laid virtually from PWD Guest House, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu in presence of Minister for Youth Services and Sports Satish Sharma, Member of Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma and MLAs Vikram Randhawa, Gharu Ram Bhagat and Devyani Rana.
The projects aim to boost rural connectivity and upgrade road infrastructure in Jammu district, covering 36.30 km of road length across five constituencies. This included six road projects: Chhamb (₹2889.01 lakh), Satwari (₹1628.43 lakh), Jammu East (₹789.28 lakh), Akhnoor (₹1537.73 lakh) and Nagrota (₹2261.08 lakh) constituencies.
Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Chief Minister said that the government is committed to strengthen sustainable road connectivity across Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in rural and remote areas. He emphasized that quality construction and timely completion of projects are top priorities, adding that the government will maintain zero tolerance towards delays, lapses or compromise in construction quality.
“Hold the contractors responsible for timely and quality work execution and do not hesitate to take action against any lapses on their part,” he said. The Deputy Chief Minister directed the engineers and executing agencies to strictly adhere to project timelines and ensure that all works are executed as per prescribed standards.
“Low tendering approvals, work subletting and other practices hampering sustainable asset developments must be discouraged,” he said. He stressed that field engineers must remain accessible to the public and actively monitor work on the ground to ensure transparency and accountability.
“Engineers must remain present in the field and ensure that work progresses as per schedule.” he said. Later, the Deputy Chief Minister reviewed the progress on ongoing PMGSY and PWD (R&B) projects in Jammu district. He directed the concerned officers to maintain strict monitoring and quality control in all ongoing works.
Among others, Chief Engineer PMGSY Purshotam Kumar, Chief Engineer PWD, Rajesh Kumar Agastam, concerned SEs, Executive Engineers of PMGSY and PWD were present on the occasion.