Asking the Nitish Kumar government to increase its capacity for speedy construction of roads, the centre today said the state government needed to have greater consuming capacity of funds for meeting targets of the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. Rural development minister Raghuvansh prasad singh said in response to a calling attention by Prabhunath Singh (jd-U) that massive funds were being allocated under the bharat nirman scheme for construction of all-weather roads in rural areas. Referring to a particular work mentioned by the jd(U)member, the minister said the problem being encountered was that no one was coming forward to bid for projects despite extension of tender dates thrice. He said after detailed project reports, if the stategovernment wants it could itself undertake the work and added the Bihar government has been requested to prepare supplementary proposals for missing links of road works which have been taken up in the first two phases. Singh said the nitish Kumar government has also beenurged for early finalisation of the core network along with the comprehensive new connectivity priority list and comprehensive upgradation priority list. The action plan to provide all-weather connectivity to 9956 eligible habitations and for upgradation of 9295 kms of roads under the bharat nirman project would also have to be finalised by the state government, he said. BJP member Lalmuni Choubey walked out of the house sayinghe was not satisfied with minister’s reply.
