Better roads under PMGSY Phase 3 soon: Khemchand
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, February 16 2023: RD&PR minister Y Khemchand has said that PMGSY phase 3 will be implemented soon in the state and under this phase, road projects will have different specification.

He was speaking at the inauguration of a bridge constructed under the PMGSY funding over Thoubal River at Kiyam Heibong Leirak in Thoubal district on Thursday.

Addressing the gathering, Khemchand said that over 1000 km of roads have been blacktopped and construction of several bridges completed ever since he took charge as minister of RD&PR.

As PMGSY Phase 3 will be implemented soon, people can see better quality roads in rural area.

Several DPRs for rural roads are being prepared and preparations likely to get finalised by the end of March this year.

There are two roads under Wangkhem assembly constituency and he is confident that these two roads will get approval, Khemchand said, adding that the bridge inaugurated on Thursday will last over a century.

He thanked former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee for introducing PMGSY for improving road connectivity in rural areas.

Conceding that oversight and lack of attention often crop in some of the road projects taken up under the PMGSY considering the large number of projects, he said that people are now thinking of him and Congress MLA K Meghachandra whenever they came across poorly executed PMGSY roads.

This shows that being in the ruling party is not the only way to address public issues as those in the opposition also bring up such issues to the knowledge of the government.

He further said that there are over 300 pending road projects under PMGSY and contractors sometimes lay bitumen without dusting, which ultimately results in peeling off of the bitumen layer within a month of blacktopping.

MPCC president and Wangkhem MLA K Meghachandra said that the bridge will improve road connectivity for the people in the area.

He thanked the minister for his supervision and ensuring quality execution and timely completion of projects under his department.

This bridge will reduce the travel duration of people living in surrounding villages such as Moijing, Sabal Tongba, Khekman, Ningombam and Leishangthem.

It will also improve people-to-people relationship as interaction will increase among them, Meghachandra said while mentioning how he inspected the project right from the stage of laying the foundation till the completion by visiting the project site from time to time.

The MLA also spoke on the importance of the different roles of opposition and ruling in democracy.

RED-MSRRDA technical advisor Kh Temba recalled that 2124 projects were sanctioned under PMGSY Phase 1 and 2, which included 1913 road and 211 bridge projects while 302 road and 89 bridge projects are pending completion.

The first two phases of the scheme aim at connecting 652 villages, as per the 2001 census and out of them, 616 villages have been connected with all-weather roads, which leaves 36 villages.

He further said that 120 projects were completed during the tenure of minister Khemchand and road connectivity has been provided in 10 villages in the current financial year.

So far, Rs 5548 crore has been sanctioned out of which Rs 4302 crore had been utilised, he revealed.

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