Bihar’s roads are at the mercy of chief minister Nitish Kumar, not God, rural works minister Bhim Singh said on Monday.

Addressing a news meet, Singh said: “Bihar ke raastey bhagwan bharose nahi, Nitish bharose hain (Roads of Bihar don’t depend on God, they depend on Nitish).”

He also revealed that his department’s ambitious plan to build 50,000km of all-weather roads in the next five years in villages and areas with a population of over 250.

“It is the government’s firm resolve to connect all villages and habitations with a population of over 250 under the two schemes — Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Mukhya Mantri Gram Sampark Yojana — in next five years,” Singh said.

He said 12,000km of roads would be built according to the integrated action plan in 11 Maoist-hit districts under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.

Around 38,000km roads would be built in 27 remaining districts under Mukhya Mantri Gram Sampark Yojana in the next five years.

Asked about the expenditure to be incurred on 50,000km of roads, he refused to give details. “It will require a survey, which is yet to be undertaken,” he said.

Officials told The Telegraph that around Rs 350 crore to Rs 400 crore would be spent on the ambitious project.

Admitting that maintenance of rural roads was poor, the minister said the government is going to formulate a policy soon under which maintenance work would be carried out on those roads that have been built in the past five years. The government would also release funds for maintenance of roads built more than five years but less than 10 years ago.

Discussing details of the department going hi-tech, Singh said: “All engineers would be provided with electronic tablets to better monitor and inspect the work on the ground. The rollout of the scheme would be announced on Tuesday.”

The department would be giving around 600 tablets to its officials and engineers, said R. Lakshamanan, chief executive officer, Bihar Rural Road Development Agency.

“Besides, the department would also install global positioning system tracking instruments on the vehicles used by assistant engineers and other officials,” he said, adding that it would let the department know the location of the engineers.