Nitish govt plans to connect villages with Patna in 6 hrs

After "achieving" the target of cutting down travel time from district headquarters to Patna within six hours, Bihar is now planning to bring connectivity of villages with the state capital to the same level, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today.

He said that on the Centre's request the state government had constructed national highways worth Rs 1000 crore from its own limited cash resource and was waiting for reimbursement of payment for the past seven years. "We'll not forgo our money."

"Our next target will be to make travel time from any village in the state to the capital Patna by roads within 6 hours," Kumar said after inaugurating works on different state highways and bridges worth Rs 2277 crore here.

The chief minister said after assuming power in 2005, he had set a target to improve quality of roads in Bihar which was in shambles.

"People entering Bihar from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand used to wake up at once due to the jerks the moment their vehicle entered Bihar," he said describing the condition of the roads.

Kumar said though reducing travel time from even far flung district headquarters to Patna within six hours was no mean achievement, still he was not satisfied.

"We shall now work to further reducing this time," he said.