Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar yesterday said if the Centre does not have money to repair the national highways which are in a poor condition, the state government could step in and do it.
"The roads about which people of Bihar complaint are mostly national highways whose maintenance is the responsibility of the Union government, which they are not doing," said Kumar while inaugurating 20 schemes of State Bridge Corporation and the start of work on 24 and foundation laying of 29 other schemes.
Bihar has 4,371 km of national highways.
"Shall we put a board that such and such roads are national highways whose upkeep is the responsibility of Union government?" the chief minister asked.
"The Centre announces roads as part of national highways but forgets that they have to build the road too. And after building they forget that the responsibility to keep them motorable is also theirs," Kumar said.
If the Union government says that it does not have money to repair the highways in Bihar or it would pay back the money to the state government later, the state government will think about carrying out these repairs, he said.
Kumar said, "Nobody knows when the 'achhe din' of national highways will come."
On the other hand, the state government keeps a close eye on the upkeep of state roads, the chief minister said.
He said the state government has formulated a policy for the upkeep of roads in the state under which a five year contract is made with the builder that it would maintain them for after completion.
Kumar launched a web portal www.Rcdbihar.In in which a common man could lodge their complaint over the poor condition of any state roads.
