Bhubaneswar: With the Durga Puja festival fast approaching, the Odisha government on Saturday set September 20 as the deadline for completion of repair works on major roads across cities and towns to ensure smooth travel for people.
A plan of action has been chalked out to complete all repair works on roads not only in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack but also all municipal and urban areas of the state before September 20, Works Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan told reporters after a high-level review meeting in Bhubaneswar.
The meeting was attended among others by MLAs, Mayors, Commissioners and senior officials from Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Senior Works Department officials were also present.
Stating that repair work will be taken up on a war-footing immediately as per the plan finalised at the meeting, he said work will be executed across key roads and junctions in all urban areas across the state ahead of the Durga Puja and Lakshmi Puja festivities.
While all potholes will be repaired, the focus will be on repairing damaged road sections, resolving water-logging issues, and improving high-traffic corridors. The government will execute the work in close coordination with contractors and urban bodies to meet the deadline, the Minister said.
Notably, the state government has already directed the departments concerned to take up immediate repair of roads in urban areas and ensure filling up of potholes and cover of the roadside drains on mission mode.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi had recently issued instruction for completion of these works to enhance urban infrastructure and ensure public safety in urban areas.
Housing & Urban Development has asked the authorities of Works and Rural Development departments and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to comply strictly with the CM’s instructions and ensure repair of all roads passing through urban areas.
Authorities of both the departments and NHAI had been asked to undertake immediate survey, jointly with the urban local bodies, to identify and geo-tag all damaged and pothole-ridden roads and assess the status of roadside drains adjoining them.
Repair of roads having market areas, hospitals, educational institutions, accident-prone zones and densely populated wards will be given top priority, H&UD Principal Secretary Usha Padhee had emphasised.
