Kolkata: In a bid to ensure that people do not face inconvenience due to poor road condition during monsoon, Chief Secretary Malay De will be holding a high level meeting to take stock of the condition of roads in the state.
The meeting is scheduled to be held on Friday in the state secretariat and all concerned officials, including senior engineers from the state Public Works Department (PWD), will be present in the meeting.
There are around 2,200 roads under the PWD, measuring around 15,400 km. Recently, the PWD has also taken up roads measuring around 3,000 km from Zilla Parishads, for their widening and strengthening.
All executive engineers of the PWD, including those of its National Highway wing, were directed to send a report on the condition of all roads under their jurisdiction and it was directed that the report should reach the concerned official within July 5.
Concerned superintendent engineers were also requested to "pursue the matter".
The executive engineers have to provide actual length and width of the roads and whether the condition at present is good, moderate or bad. They also have to mention if any tender has been floated or sanctioned to carry out repair work of any stretch of road till June 30.
Based on the report, the discussion in the meeting will be held. There will also be discussion to decide if work needs to be carried out for any road.
It has been learnt that the top brass of the PWD had reviewed the condition of the roads in April. Now, the Chief Secretary is going to review the entire situation and would
suggest steps that need to be taken.
It may be mentioned that the condition of roads has improved in the past seven years, with a series of projects taken up by the Mamata Banerjee government since 2011.
Both in the urban and rural parts of the state, road condition has improved and for the first time ever in the history of Bengal, roads in villages have also been concretised. Steps have also been taken to construct 27,000 new rural roads.
Apart from constructing new roads that ensure a development of infrastructure, the state government also maintains vigil to know if any stretch of road is in poor condition and the repairing work is taken up on an immediate basis, so that people do not face any problem.