Paul John | TNN Ahmedabad: The ambitious task of strengthening 11,933 km of rural roads by the State Roads and Building Department (R&B) was fraught with many procedural and technical glitches that caused the tax payers to cough up an extra Rs 94.31 crore. This was observed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in its latest report. Apart from procuring asphalt at higher prices for

The Highways and Road Development Ministry will spend around Rs. 189.4 million funded by the Kuwait Government to expedite the reconstruction and renovation of the stretch of road between Peradeniya and Gannoruwa. Acting Highways and Road Development Minister T.B. Ekanayake directed to accelerate renovation immediately to solve the traffic congestion at Peradeniya junction. The Highways and Road Development Ministry spokesman told the Daily News that this road was constructed during British rule and has not been reconstructed for a long time.

The Karnataka government has released Rs. 200 crore as special grant for road development works in 114 backward taluks, according to Minister for Public Works C.M. Udasi. He told presspersons on Friday that the special grant would be spent only for road works in the backward taluks as roads were bad there. During President's Rule, the administration released Rs. 125 crore for road works in rural areas and the special grant would be an addition to that. The Minister said the State government planned to build toll roads between Bellary-Mangalore and Bellary-Karwar.

RAMNAGAR : Minister for Road and Bridges, Jugal Kishore Sharma asserted that under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Central Government has released funds worth Rs.1200 crore for construction of 400 new roads in the state under Prime Ministers Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) to extend road connectivity to left out pockets of the state.

The Jammu and Kashmir government is spending Rs 500 crore to raise 40 important infrastructure projects including construction of roads and bridges in Kashmir division, a senior official said on Sunday. Work has already started on 32 projects, Mehboob Iqbal, divisional commissioner, Kashmir said while addressing a meeting convened here to review the pace of work on the road and bridge projects. Iqbal said adding Rs 278 crore are being spend on 16 road projects while the economic reconstruction agency is incurring Rs 42 crore on construction of 17 bridges.

Till date the southern states were infamous for boundary disputes. But this malaise seems to have spread to the north-east where Assam and Meghalaya are locked in a border row over a remote village Lampih following the potential discovery of uranium in this tiny hamlet. To ensure that Lampih remains with it. the Assam Government has dangled lots of carrots including a health centre and motorable roads for 31,200 villagers who have to travel for six hours on horseback to reach the nearest road.

UDHAMPUR : A team of National Conference visited far flung areas of Chenani block and took stock of public problems. The team was headed by Lal Chand Mussafir, district vice president. They visited villages Bhatla-Madha, Pachote and Kither of Chenani tehsil and convened party meetings at various places. The residents complained that the villages do not have road connectivity and some schools do not have adequate staff.

Bhopal : With utmost attention of the state government to construction and upgradation of road communication Madhya Pradesh has witnessed a remarkable improvement in the road network over last four and half years. This has given a fillip to the development process besides making life of people more convenient.

JAMMU : Pradesh Janta Dal (Secular) expressed concern over the pending work of Bhadarwah-Chamba road despite the release of Rs 80 crores by the central government. As per a press release, its acting president Mast Nath Yogi alleged that since the announcement of the start of work on the said road, nothing so far has been done on the projects including the work on the Basholi road which is almost complete.

Close on the heels of sanctioning of the double laning of the Stilwell Road which connects Myanmar to India; the Centre has accorded top priority to another road project in Arunachal Pradesh which will connect Tawang near the China border at one end to Bogibeel in Dibrugarh district in Asom at the other, indicating the seriousness with which the Centre is pursueing its Look East policy to boost trade and economic ties with neighbouring South-east Asian countries.