Ramban, Sep 22: Joint Secretary, Highways, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India (GoI), Amit Kumar Ghosh today reviewed the physical and financial progress of the National Highway (NH44) four-laning project here at a high-level meeting.
He also inspected the pace of work at various construction sites from Udhampur to Ramban, an official press release informed.
District Development Commissioner Ramban, Showkat Aijaz Bhat, SSP Ramban, Anita Sharma, RO, NHAI Hem Raj, ADC, Basharat Hussain, ACR, Vevaik Puri, CPO, Uttam Singh and officers of other departments besides representatives of construction companies attended the meeting.
He informed the meeting that the Prime Minister will be reviewing the Udhampur to Banihal four-laning project on September 26, 2018.
After extensive consultations, the deadline for completion of land acquisition was fixed in the meeting today.
Considering the importance of the NH-44 four lane projects, he directed the District Administration and construction companies to remove the bottlenecks and ensure proper fund management.
He also reviewed the progress of shifting of HT Towers and other utilities including their reinstallation and developing suitable environment for construction work.
Most of issues impacting project execution were also resolved on the spot.
Ghosh instructed the construction agencies to strictly adhere to quality specifications and directed all officers to ensure close monitoring of quality of work. He asked the construction agencies to put in their best efforts to achieve the targets within fixed timeframe.
He directed the construction companies for proper maintenance and management of National Highway stretch from Nashri to Banihal so that transportation of vehicles does not get obstructed.
Discussing the issue threadbare, he also deliberated on major issues confronting Ramban town and directed the officers to take prompt action for avoiding inconvenience to public.
The DDC apprised about public demand for framing a rehabilitation and employment plan for land losers and other affected families. He suggested for exploring possibility of constructing more tunnels on Ramban-Banihal stretch for avoiding land-sliding and other problems in future.
He assured that public issues will be resolved amicably besides providing full cooperation from district administration to construction agencies for accelerating construction work. He informed that district administration has already resolved most of the issues brought to its notice.
Engineers of construction companies including GAMMON and HCC gave a power point presentation to brief the meeting about Plan, progress, Status of Land acquisition, physical achievements besides apprising the chair about bottlenecks.
Earlier, Amit Kumar Ghosh along with DC, Udhampur, Ravinder Kumar and Head Tunnel Operations, C D Singh Jamwal inspected the Chenani- Nashri Tunnel and discussed security and safety arrangements. He also visited the control room and expressed his satisfaction over the innovative techniques for controlling the tunnel project.
