Road maintenance during apple season top priority of Himachal government: State Minister

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], June 13 : In view of the upcoming apple season, a meeting was organized here on Monday under the chairmanship of Himachal Pradesh Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh to review the maintenance of roads and other works. The Public Works Minister said that Himachal is famous as a fruit-producing state and horticulture, especially apple production, has an economy of about Rs 5,000 crore in the state.
Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh said, "It becomes important that the crops of apple, pear and plum should be taken to the mandis and from there to the market on time. For this, the state government and the Public Works Department are determined to complete all the preparations in time. In this context, this meeting has been organized in view of apple season today."
Various preparations at the administrative level for the apple season and working in coordination for better maintenance of roads were discussed in the meeting. He said that an additional amount of about three and half crore rupees would be spent on speedy repair and maintenance of 14 roads in five circles in Shimla zone, so that the agents, loaders, farmers and gardeners would not face any difficulty in transporting their crops in the upcoming apple season.
The PWD Minister also directed proper maintenance of roads connecting APMC market yards at Parala, Rohru, Bhattakufar, Solan and Parwanoo. He said that an amount of about Rs 3.48 crore has been released through APMC for the road to Parala Market Yard.
Vikramaditya Singh said that in case of landslides during the rainy season, proper arrangements of machines will be made in each circle to maintain road traffic. He said that cooperation will be taken through the Block Development Officer in coordination with the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department for the maintenance of Panchayat level link roads. Issuing strict instructions to the officers, he said that about one month is still left for the apple season and they should complete all the preparations during this period. No laxity will be tolerated in the maintenance of roads during the season. He said that he will review it once again in the month of July, before the start of apple season.
He said that proper warning signs will also be displayed in black spots, sharp and narrow turns and accident prone areas on the roads coming into the apple production area. Necessary cooperation will be taken in this by establishing coordination with the police department.
In the meeting, discussions were held on the major roads of Shimla, Kullu and Kinnaur districts related to apple production, panchayat and village level link roads, the opening of Shimla and Theog bypasses, and Chaila road expansion. Apart from this, discussion was also held on setting up control and sub-control rooms at various places including Theog.
Secretary Finance Akshay Sood, Deputy Commissioner Shimla Aditya Negi, Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Gandhi, Chief Engineer of Public Works Department Surendra Kumar Jagota, Superintending and Executive Engineer of the department and senior officers of the Horticulture Department were also present in the meeting.