Patna: Principal secretary of the road construction department Amrit Lal Meena has directed executive engineers posted in flood-hit districts to initiate repair of roads damaged in floods.

He recalled that a meeting on October 12 had laid the guidelines for repair of damaged roads. He said officials of the road construction and Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam will make a joint survey of places where floodwaters had breached roads and decide if bridges are to be constructed. He said the department would build bridges less than 30m in length and the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam would build those longer than 30m.

On roads where bridges are not necessary, Meena said, a layer of bitumen would be spread. Funds have been made available and work would be completed by end of January.

He asked the executive engineers to send an estimate of work in their areas in a week for administrative nod. The districts where roads were damaged by floods include Kishanganj, Purnea, Araria, Katihar, Supaul, Saharsa, Madhepura, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Sheohar, Motihari, Bettiah, Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, Chhapra and Samastipur.

The floods hit 19 districts and killed over 500 people. The state government has asked the Centre for over Rs 7,000 crore for complete rehabilitation of flood victims, crop damage and repair of damaged infrastructure. Around Rs 2,900 crore has been sought for rehabilitation of 512km of damaged roads.