Nitish Kumar opens bridge over Gandak in East Champaran

PATNA: CM Nitish Kumar on Tuesday inaugurated two major projects of the road construction department in East Champaran and Lakhisarai through video-conferencing from ‘Samvad’ hall at the chief minister’s office.
Nitish opened the high-level RCC bridge on the Gandak at Sattarghat in East Champaran. The bridge, constructed at a cost of Rs 263.48 crore, will reduce travel time between from East Champaran to Gopalganj, Siwan and Saran districts.
The CM also inaugurated a bypass road along with two road-over bridges (total construction cost Rs 146.31 crore) in Lakhisarai town and laid foundation for another bypass road in Sasaram. The proposed bypass road in Sasaram (from Beda to Moker) will be constructed at a cost of Rs 122.39 crore.
He also inaugurated Kunder barrage construction scheme in Lakhisarai district’s Chanan block and four other irrigation schemes in Suryagarha block through video-conferencing from the same venue.
Addressing the function, Nitish regretted not being able to visit the site of Sattarghat bridge or Lakhisarai bypass for their on-the-spot inauguration due to Covid-19 pandemic.
“I had gone to Sattarghat to lay the foundation of the bridge in 2012. It is not good that I am not there for the inauguration of the same bridge. I do not like inaugurating major projects through video conferencing. I like to go among people and visit construction sites because it provides me a chance to inspect the quality of work before their inauguration,” Nitish said and announced that henceforth no major project would be inaugurated through video-conferencing.
CM asked chief secretary Deepak Kumar to make all necessary arrangements for on-the-spot inauguration of new projects, while following the Centre’s guidelines on social distancing. “From now onwards, please do not request me to inaugurate any completed project from here. Take me to the project sites. If I will visit the site, I will also inspect whether there are any shortcomings in the construction,” Nitish told the chief secretary.
CM said the state government not only builds the roads and bridges, but also gives attention to their regular maintenance. He said the state government has a separate maintenance policy for the RCD and rural works department’s roads.
He also announced the construction of a 23.5km new road from Barahiya to Suryagarha via Khuthan at a cost of Rs 50 crore. “The RCD has already prepared a detailed project report (DPR) for this road. Now, they will start its construction,” CM said.
Lauding the water resources department for completing several irrigation schemes in Lakhisarai district, CM reiterated that he would provide irrigation water to each farm land across the state, if people of the state give him another chance to serve.