Bhubaneswar: In a significant step towards improving road maintenance and ensuring safer travel, the state government has made one-time improvement (OTI) mandatory before roads are transferred from other government departments to the Works Department.
The roads must undergo necessary repairs and surface improvements before being handed over to the Works Department. In this regard, the department has issued a directive to the Housing and Urban Development (H&UD) department, Water Resources department, Rural Development department and Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water department.
In the directive, Works Department Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh said road construction and maintenance would henceforth be governed by the Odisha State Road Policy 2025. Under the policy, departments must strictly comply with the prescribed procedures for transferring roads to the Works Department.
In particular, urban roads and roads under other departments must meet the required standards before being brought under the Works Department’s jurisdiction. The directive noted that road construction often gets delayed after roads are transferred from one department to another.
This is because several requirements and procedural formalities must be completed before construction work can begin. During this interim period, inadequate maintenance can damage road surfaces and disrupt traffic.
Since responsibility for these roads eventually rests with the Works Department, their deteriorating condition creates additional challenges for the department. To address the problem, the government has made necessary repairs and OTI works are mandatory before the transfer of roads.
The measure is expected to ensure that roads remain in serviceable condition and spare commuters and the public unnecessary inconvenience. Singh expressed hope that the decision would improve road quality and maintenance, clarify departmental accountability and help build better road infrastructure across the state.
The state government approved the Odisha State Road Policy 2025 in April. However, various departments have continued to undertake road repairs and construction independently, reportedly resulting in significant financial losses to the government, delays in road projects and inconvenience to the public.
Although the state government introduced the road policy about a year ago to address these issues, it has yet to be implemented effectively, sources said.