Bihar govt to wrap up app-based survey for widening of rural roads by January: Minister

Patna, Jan12 (PTI) The Bihar government on Monday said that an app-based survey for widening of rural roads in the state will be completed by the end of January.

The government has decided to conduct a Transit Walk survey for all rural roads that have gone out of the maintenance period or will go out of maintenance, an official statement said.

For 2026-27, the government has projected that by the deadline, the roads completing their maintenance period will number 5,887 and reconstruction, upgradation, and renovation of about 11,942 km will be undertaken.

Talking to reporters here, Bihar Rural Works minister Ashok Chodhary said, "Under the Saat Nischay-3 scheme, rural roads with high traffic flow are to be widened. At present, many of these are 3.75 metre single-lane roads, and we are planning to widen them to around 5.5 metres." He claimed that the survey will be completed by the end of January.

Choudhary said that the biggest responsibility of his department has been to "strengthen the rural economy".

"Since Nitish Kumar ji assumed office as CM, our department has constructed about 1.3 lakh km of roads in Bihar," he claimed.

Choudhary highlighted that in 2024-25 and 2025-26, the government approved about 18,166 roads stretching across 30,955 km under Bihar Rural Roads Strengthening and Management Scheme.

"Of these, after group packaging and tender disposal, work has commenced on about 16,331 roads covering nearly 28,060 km. The remaining 1,835 roads, with a total length of 2,905 km, were delayed due to the elections and are now in the final stage of tender disposal," the minister said.

He said that under the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana, the government has completed the construction of 494 km of roads and 195 bridges in 2025-26 at an estimated cost of Rs 538.6 crore.

Under the Mukhyamantri Gram Setu Yojana, a total of 909 bridges were taken up in 2024-25 and 2025-26, Choudhary said.

Work orders have been issued for 670 bridges, and work is in progress at different stages. The remaining 239 bridges are in the process of tender disposal, he added.

"To ensure smooth traffic in rural areas and to improve connectivity to important administrative institutions such as blocks, sub-divisions, districts, as well as hospitals and educational institutions, we are constructing convenient alternative routes and bypasses," Choudhary said.

He claimed that administrative approval has been granted for 65 such schemes, involving an expenditure of Rs 356.4 crore, out of which construction work on 13 schemes is in progress, while the remaining 52 schemes are in the process of disposal. PTI SUK RG