MP govt blames Centre for hike in road-laying cost

Bhopal, Mar 11 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh Public Works Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya today held the Centre's policies responsible for increasing the cost of road-laying.

Replying to a discussion in the Assembly on budgetary demands for the Public Works, Information Technology, Science and Technology departments, he said, ''central policies led to rise in prices of cement, tar, concrete etc.'' Pointing out that 7,000 km of roads was being laid under a renewal scheme, the Minister added that the Roads Development Corporation was working on a total stretch of 7,829 km of state highways.

In response to opposition allegations that poor quality roads were laid in some places, he claimed that the government took action against officials and contractors involved besides blacklisting some contractors.

Mr Vijayvargiya said that 1,000 children were selected from urban and rural areas and taken on a visit to various states to whet their interest in science. A Rs 2-crore science park was being established at Ujjain.

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