KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday launched 'Pathashree Abhijaan', during which 7,000 stretches of roads, comprising 12,000 km across the state, will be repaired in a time-bound manner.
The announcement was made during CM’s visit to north Bengal, where the ruling Trinamool Congress received a massive blow in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Chief Minister said, "On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, our government is taking up a project to repair and maintain 12,000 kilometers of roads across the state." This project will be conducted over the next 15 days.
"Due to Covid, a lot of work had come to a halt, but we will restart it. Roads are keys to good infrastructure. We will try to connect all villages to major roads," she added.
The chief minister said before the change of guard in the state in 2011 and her party came to power, only 92,023 km of roads were built by the previous government. "Today, West Bengal has a total road length of around 316,730 km — a 244 per cent increase in road infrastructure,’’ she claimed, adding, ‘’In order to continue this progress, the government of West Bengal has sanctioned Rs 5,746.99 crore for public work in the budget 2020-2021. West Bengal is also number one when it comes to the length of rural roads."
The state government has collated a list of roads through Didi Ke Bolo, a platform to reach out to the people, inputs received at the CMO Grievance Redressal Cell and valuable inputs from the elected representatives. These roads will be repaired in a time-bound manner.
"Mass participation would be a key feature of the Pathashree Abhijaan. The people of West Bengal will be able to share photos and videos of the repaired roads with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. In the case that a road has not been repaired, they can similarly reach out to the CM, who will then ensure necessary steps to address their grievance," said a senior state government official.
The Chief Minister also instructed all BDOs and inspectors-in-charge of police stations to keep a close eye on fake news and false information on social media platforms. Without naming the BJP, Mamata alleged an "organisation’’ is spreading cerebral terror on social media by circulating fake news.