Road repair: by private firms! Patna: For the better upkeep of the roads, the state government has approved its new road maintenance policy. Under this policy, the upkeep of the road would rest on the contractors for the period of five to nine years. The state government gave its nod to the ambitious policy earlier this week. The principal secretary of the Cabinet Department, Brajesh Mehrotra told the press, “Under this new policy, the state government has changed its entire mechanism of road maintenance. Under this new policy, the state government proposes a performance based maintenance. The... 

  Ganga in Patna Patna: After failed attempts to attract private investors for the Ganga Expressway project along the banks of the river here on the lines of Mumbai’s Marine Drive, a government agency has now been roped in to construct it, an official said. “The Bihar government is committed to the mega project – Ganga Expressway – as private companies have not come forward to promote it. Now the state government’s own agency will construct it,” Road Construction Minister Nand Kishore Yadav told the press. Yadav said the government has initiated the process... 

  Roads to Patna: east, west, north, south! Patna: according to the latest reports, Patna is now to be connected from all sides north, south, east and west – with four-lane roads. Work on such roads in all directions has been set in motion. While tender for one such road is likely to be floated soon, tenders for other projects have already been awarded. Road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav said on Tuesday that in the next three years there would be a network of four-lane roads all around the state capital. The first four-lane road is likely to be completed in 2014, he added. On... 

  Reaching everywhere! New Delhi: After getting the UPA government to sanction two central universities for Bihar, CM Nitish Kumar has now got the Centre’s clearance for construction of 3,846 km of rural roads and 96 bridges in the state that will cost Rs 2,439 crore. The state government will spend only Rs 54.41 crore, with the Union rural development ministry bearing rest of the cost on construction of rural roads and bridges under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in what appears to be part of Congress’s significant political outreach to a NDA ally. The prompt approval... 

East to west along Indo-Nepal border: the mother of all roads in Bihar by 2016!   Champaran - Kishanganj: 2016! Patna: only someone from Bihar or Nepal may have faced the utter inconvenience of travelling from Champaran in Bihar to Kishanganj in the west-east [or east-west] direction. This would be a journey with many breaks and comparable to a trek from Imphal to Orissa. So imagine a road cutting straight between the two extremes of Bihar – this will truly be the mother of all roads in this part of the country. Just in case the practical considerations seem the only ones, now imagine the... 

Rural Works Department, Bihar to have its own cadre of engineers: to recruit over 3000 engineers! Patna: in a major administrative move, the Rural Works Department of Bihar has decided to recruit its own dedicated cadre of engineers. It will now recruit over 3000 engineers for the purpose. Speaking to the media, Bhim Singh, the rural works minister said that the department has been dependent on engineers delegated by the water resources and road construction departments. Explaining the need for the special cadre, the rural works minister said that construction of rural roads is a specialized... 

92 luxury AC buses to run on 17 routes connecting district towns in Bihar by July Patna: in a significant move, the Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) has decided to link up the district towns of Bihar with each other and with Patna through an inter-city luxury air-conditioned (AC) bus service starting July. According to an official of BSRTC ‘The idea behind these luxury AC buses is to provide a comfortable journey to the citizens while travelling between district headquarters. A total of 92 luxury AC buses are proposed to run on 17 routes in the state. While 10 of these routes... 

Pratyaya Amrit, Secretary, BRPNN to receive the PMs Excellence award: a prize for Bihar roads Patna: according to the latest reports, Pratyaya Amrit, Secretary, Bihar’s Road Construction Department is to receive the ‘PM’s excellence award in the field of public administration’ on the occasion of Civil Services Day on April 21. The award is being conferred on him at a ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi. Reports mention that Amrit is the only winner in the individual achievement category this year. While speaking to a correspondent Amrit said ‘it is a recognition for the work that... 

A Bihar routine to be broken: first accident, then stone pelting, then lathi charge by police! by Ratnakar Tripathy Patna: those looking at the press reports in Patna on a daily basis cannot fail to notice what has become a routine – a passing vehicle kills a pedestrian, crowds collect and attack the vehicle, which is when the police turn up and what follows is often a small scale warfare. If this happened on a weekly basis, one may have ignored it, as the English press often does. Such incidents are considered unworthy of media attention except in the Hindi press. The latest such incident... 

New Delhi: The central government has given over Rs.217 crore to five public sector units (PSUs) for construction of rural roads in Bihar under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), according to the rural development ministry sources. Tripartite agreements have been signed for this purpose between the ministry, the Bihar government and the central PSUs. The PSUs would follow the guidelines of the PMGSY to build Bihar rural roads. It is a fully sponsored central government scheme that  envisages providing all-weather roads to all habitations with a population of 500 people and more...