Chief minister Nitish Kumar greets Jairam Ramesh, the Union rural development minister, at 1 Aney Marg on Sunday. Ramesh was in Patna to preside over a review meeting on the progress made by Bihar on Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). During the meeting, state rural works minister Bhim Singh complained about the poor quality of work undertaken by central agencies while constructing roads under PMGSY. Singh said the work progress of the five central agencies in Bihar was “slow” and the quality of work was “not up to the mark”. He added that once a road was made, the agencies failed to maintain it. The state also pleaded that the price of construction material had escalated and the Centre should bear the costs. Ramesh had reportedly directed the officials of the agencies to ensure the quality of roads. The agencies had submitted a work plan to complete the roads during the 2012-13 fiscal. Around 4,000km of rural roads were to be constructed during this period. Under the PMGSY, rural habitats, with a population of 1,000 and above, are to be connected with all-weather roads. Nitish was also present in the meeting. Telegraph picture