In a major citizen-centric decision, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann on Wednesday gave the nod to launch a special campaign for constructing 20,000 kilometres of link roads in the state at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore.

Chairing a meeting here, the Chief Minister said that the main motive of the campaign is to facilitate the people, as these Link Roads act as a catalyst in commuting and smooth transportation of goods and services to people.

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He said that these link roads are the arteries of economic growth in the state as they help the people residing in rural areas to commute on one hand and give impetus to trade and business, on the other.

Mann underlined the need for the construction of these roads at the earliest, as the majority of them have remained unattended even after passing their life of six years.

The Chief Minister said that these roads must be constructed by categorising them as top priority, priority, and needy roads so that people can benefit from them.

He said that an on-the-ground survey for the need-based and priority-wise construction of these roads must be ensured.

He asked the PWD and Mandi Board authorities to ensure that every single penny is spent judiciously on the construction of these roads, adding it should be ensured that the contractors constructing these roads will have to maintain them for five years.

The Chief Minister said that the state government has decided to give a major facelift to the link road infrastructure by widening, strengthening, and upgrading these rural link roads across the state.

He said the state government has taken this decision keeping in view the importance of this road network to facilitate the people.

Mann asked the Punjab Mandi Board and PWD to ensure high quality of the work besides ensuring that every penny allocated for that project was invested in a justified manner.

The Chief Minister also said that the technology of ‘Artificial Intelligence’ should be used for need-based construction of the rural roads in the state.

He said that this step will ensure optimum use of the existing resources of the state, along with ensuring top quality work on rural roads.

Mann said that this technique will revolutionise the construction work on roads by saving a lot of public money, adding that the feasibility of third-party checks should also be explored.