Barak Valley road, infrastructure projects to be expedited: Assam Minister Krishnendu Paul

Road and infrastructure projects across Assam’s Barak Valley are set to be expedited, with Barak Valley Development Minister Krishnendu Paul directing officials to ensure that key roads are repaired ahead of Durga Puja and Kali Puja.

A high-level meeting was held at the Assam Secretariat in Barak Valley on Wednesday to review the progress of various road and infrastructure projects in the three districts of the region and address issues affecting construction.

The meeting was attended by Minister of State Kaushik Rai and Barak Valley Development Minister Krishnendu Paul. Officials and representatives of various departments and construction agencies reviewed the progress of several major projects and discussed bottlenecks that could delay their completion.

Among the projects reviewed were the Shillong-Barni Expressway, roads being constructed under the Bharatmala project across the three Barak Valley districts, Assam Mala road projects, the construction of a flyover in Shillong city and the road connecting Birbal Bazar with the Medical College.

Following the meeting, Paul said a detailed review of the condition of roads in Barak Valley had been conducted on the direction of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and a roadmap had been prepared for further work.

He said particular emphasis had been placed on completing repairs of important roads before the Durga Puja and Kali Puja festivals.

“The condition of roads in all three districts was reviewed in detail along with officials of the Public Works Department, district administrations and the National Highways authorities,” Paul said.

The review covered the problems affecting road construction, the progress of four-laning works and the implementation of projects under Assam Mala, he said.

Paul said the government’s objective was to ensure that the region’s roads are brought into the best possible condition before Durga Puja, when movement of people and vehicles is expected to increase substantially.

The issue of repairing the road from Shillong to Churaibari will also be brought to the chief minister’s attention, the minister said. He also referred to the bridge being constructed over the Barak river at Madarpur.

The government has directed the concerned departments and construction agencies to accelerate the implementation of key development projects in Barak Valley and ensure that construction works do not face unnecessary delays.

MLAs Vijay Malakar, Rajdeep Gaula, Amiya Kanti Das, Aminul Haque Laskar, Zuber Enam and Aminul Rashid Chowdhury were present at the meeting.

District Commissioners Rahul Gupta, Pradeep Kumar Dwivedi and Joy Bikash, Additional Secretary Aditya Vikram Yadav, Public Works Commissioner and Special Secretary Sanjib Shyam, NHIDCL Executive Director Nirman Kishan Jambhulkar, along with officials from the Power and Forest departments, also attended the meeting.