Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have expressed satisfaction at the progress in construction of all weather road project during the current month. He stressed that work on this important project should be completed on priority basis with focus on quality. He said this in a video-conference to review Proactive Governance and Timely Implementation (PRAGATI). In the conference, the Uttarakhand chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh informed the prime minister about the Char Dham roads. He said that the pilgrims will be able to access secure, convenient and easy travel to Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri.
The chief secretary informed that the 889 kilometres road to be constructed at a cost of `11,700 crore is being built within a set time frame. Of the total 889 kilometre road, works on 395 kilometres have been approved by the government of India. Out of these, works for 340 kilometres of the road have been awarded. Land will be handed over in the first week of January for the two-laning work on the road. Regarding compensation for the land, the CS informed that out of the `190 crore sum received for this, ` 145 crore has been distributed to 10K farmers. The distribution of the `28.54 crore will be done in one week, he said, while also adding that the clearance for 250 hectare forest land has also been facilitated. Regarding the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY), Singh said that the state had followed the directions and formed the district mineral foundation (DMF). Health services for affected people in the mining areas, supply of potable water, welfare schemes and restoration of areas damaged ecologically by mining will be under the DMF.