Construct early Raipur-Bilaspur road: Min

     New Delhi, February 5, 2010: Chhattisgarh today asked the Centre to start construction of the busy Raipur-Bilaspur four lane road and speed up the Raipur-Arang four lane road.

     PWD Minister Brij Mohan Agrawal today pointed out the slow pace of work on the Raipur-Arang four lane work and asked the Union Surface Transport Minister Kamal Nath to intervene in the matter.

     Participating in the State Surface Transport Ministers Conference here, Agrawal also urged the Union Minister to start the proposed Raipur-Bilaspur four lane road as early as possible looking into the problems being faced by the road users.

     Eleven National Highways are passing through Chhattisgarh, whose total length are 2227 Km, out of which 483 are single lane, 1442 km are double and only 36 km are four lane, Agrawal said.

     The state had sent a total of 39 proposals to the Centre worth of Rs 314.92 Crore, out of which only Rs 3.6 Crore worth of proposals have been approved and rest are pending, he said adding the Union Minister should personally intervene in the matter and accord sanction as early as possible.

     Similarly the conditions of the national highways are bad in many areas of the state and the Centre should go for its repair, he demanded.

    Central Minister Kamal Nath immediately asked his officials to look into the problems of Chhattisgarh and also asked them to provide money for that.

     Agrawal also stressed for improvement of infrastructure in the naxal infested areas and said for construction of roads in Maoists hit areas a proposal to construct 927 Km with an estimated cost of Rs 1548 crore had been sent to the Centre and asked for early sanction to the proposals.