UP Government Approves Road Projects for Underdeveloped Regions

The public works department (PWD) in Lucknow, India, has announced plans to relax its road construction norms in order to speed up development in the state’s backward regions. Instead of considering traffic volume when approving new roads, the department will assess the need for connectivity between two locations. A high-level committee under the chief secretary will have the authority to approve such projects as long as they do not exceed a cost of Rs 200 crore. The move is expected to improve connectivity in areas such as Purvanchal and Bundelkhand, which have prominent hospitals, educational institutes, sugar mills and busy rural markets. A special corpus of Rs 440 crore and Rs 260 has been earmarked for strengthening the road network in these areas respectively, with a total budget of Rs 36,643 crore allocated to the PWD for the fiscal year. While traffic volume surveys had previously been used to gauge the need for new roads, a senior officer from the department said there is a growing need to improve connectivity in backward regions.