The four-day 84th Indian Roads Congress will begin in Bhubaneswar on Friday with the motto of “better and safe roads”.
Union minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate the event along with chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi. This is the first national road congress being held in the state under the BJP government. Around 3,500 delegates from across the country are expected to attend.
Odisha public works department (PWD) minister Prithviraj Harichandan said the government’s focus was on making roads accident-free.
“We are trying our best to make roads safe. We have initiated a road maintenance policy for this purpose and are opting for technology transfer to ensure best possible road safety practices,” Harichandan said.
The minister said the state’s road network had improved under the BJP government.
Odisha has 13.16km of roads per lakh population against the national average of 11km, while its road density stands at 36.95 metres per 1,000 square metres compared to the all-India average of 40.20 metres.
“We are trying our best to increase the length of roads as we want to have the best road network in the country,” Harichandan added.
Stating that road safety was among the government’s top priorities, he said a protocol had been put in place and a road audit was under way. “So far 7,000km of roads have been audited,” he said.
The minister said contractors would now be held responsible for substandard work. “We are doing everything possible, including improving service and bypass roads, to ensure roads are safer and accidents are minimised,” he added.