Complete works on Char Dham roads by Sept 4: Chief Secy

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, August 23

The Chief Secretary, Shatrughan Singh, has directed departments concerned to complete all construction works linked to Char Dham roads by September 4.

He was presiding over a coordination meeting of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the state government at the Secretariat here today.

The Chief Secretary said a stern action would be taken in case of delay. Officials of the NHAI should personally contact the District Magistrates concerned to accelerate the pace of works, he said.

En-course of the meeting, it was informed that out of 889 km of Char Dham roads, 225 km fall in Tehri Garhwal district. It has two stretches, one from Rishikesh to Rudraprayag and another from Rishikesh to Dharasu band.

The land acquisition process for constructing these stretches was at the final stage.

The construction of 21.62 km Char Dham road was all set to begin. A length of 110.33 km road will be constructed in Rudraprayag district. A total of 144 km road will fall in Chamoli. A total of 102.50 km of Char Dham roads is slated to fall in Uttarkashi district.

National Highways Authority of India senior official OP Srivastava said the Central Government had decided to sanction Rs 5,000 crore for the construction of Char Dham roads in the state. He hoped for all coordination between the NHAI and the state government for the speedy construction of Char Dham roads.

Additional Chief Secretary M Ramaswami, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Rajender Kumar Mahajan, Public Works Department Secretary DS Garbyal, Housing Secretary Meenakshi Sundaram and other senior officers attended the meeting.