National and state highway work on in Karnataka's non-red zone parts: DyCM Karjol

Bengaluru: Approved national and state highway works are being taken up in places other than red zones in Karnataka by following the government’s directives to control the spread of coronavirus,Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol said on Tuesday.

“Work on 16 out of 18 NHAI projects has started in Karnataka and 43 projects of the state highways have also been started while nine projects are in the red zone,” Karjol said.

He said construction of weir below the bridge structure, to store water, has also been taken up by Karnataka, similar to Maharashtra model.

Karjol, who is also the Minister for PWD, participated in the video conference by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari with PWD and Transport Ministers of all states.

State Transport Minister and Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi was also present in the meeting.

Karjol during the meeting also requested the Union Minister to clear Rs 8,100 crore worth proposals for 2020-21 that has been submitted by the state to the Centre at the earliest, his office said in a statement.

He apprised Gadkari that steps have to been taken to ensure the directives issued by the government to control the spread of coronavirus like social distancing, use of masks among other things are being followed during road construction work by labourers, official staff and drivers.

Movement of goods, agriculture and horticulture produce have been allowed and measures have been taken to ensure that farmers and agriculture labourers don’t face any trouble, he added.