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26,815 KM OF RURAL ROADS LAID THIS YEAR: GOVT
A total of 6,372 rural roads measuring 26,815 km had been laid in Chhattisgarh so far involving an expenditure of Rs 7,880 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) during the current financial year so far.
This was informed by officials at a meeting of the State-level Permanent Committee of the Chhattisgarh Rural Roads Development Authority chaired by Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand at the Mantrlaya on Saturday.
A total of 6697 rural roads had been approved by the Central Government measuring 29,562 kms under PMGSY.
A total of 105 new roads would be constructed in various districts of Chhattisgarh under batch-II of the project work under PPMGSY, officials informed.
It may be recalled that the worst insurgency infested districts of Chhattisgarh would be able to further provide a boost to rural road connectivity work with the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approving a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely “Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas”.
The project is aimed at improving the rural road connectivity in the worst LWE affected districts from security angle, officials informed.
The project will be implemented as a vertical under PMGSY to provide connectivity with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures in 44 worst affected LWE districts and adjoining districts in the country, critical from security and communication point of view. The roads will be operable throughout the year irrespective of all weather conditions.
Under the project, construction/upgradation of 5,411.81 km road and 126 bridges/Cross Drainage works will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 11,724.53 crore in the above district.
The fund sharing pattern of LWE road project will be same as that of PMGSY i.e. in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and States for all States except for eight North Eastern and three Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10.
The Union Ministry of Finance will have to allocate to Union Ministry of Rural Development Rs 7,034.72 crore for this project during the period of implementation 2016-17 to 2019-20.
The Union Ministry of Rural Development will be the sponsoring Ministry as well as the implementing Ministry of this project. The likely duration of implementation of the project is four years from 2016-17 to 2019-20.
The “Road Connectivity Project for LWE Affected Areas” is envisaged in LWE States including the 35 worst affected LWE districts which account for 90% of total LWE violence in the country and 9 adjoining districts critical from security angle as per the inputs and lists of roads / districts provided by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.
The roads taken up under the scheme would include Other District Roads (ODRs), Village Roads (VRs) and upgradation of the existing Major District Roads (MDRs) that are critical from the security point of view. Bridges up to a span of 100 meters, critical from security angle would also be funded on these roads.
Notably, a total of 16 construction works of 698 kms of roads in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas are under construction in Chhattisgarh, officials informed.
The input cost of these roads is Rs 928 crore . Roads up to a length of 435 kms had already been laid in the insurgency infested districts, they informed.
A total of 5894 kilometers of roads will be laid, 223 buildings will be constructed and 144 bridges and railway overhead bridges will be built in the entire State during the next 18 months, they informed.
Roads measuring up to 1322 kilometers had been laid, construction of 49 buildings and 23 bridges had been completed till date.
The Government is also targetting to lay 1526 kilometers of State Highways roads worth Rs 10,171 crore till March 2018.
Twenty-eight developmental works relating to the roads had already been sanctioned. Roads measuring up to 253 kilometers had already been laid till date.
Eighteen developmental works relating to laying of roads worth Rs 1965 crore with the financial aid of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) had already been in the pipeline.
There is a proposal to construct 233 State Government buildings with a sanctioned of Rs 1349 crore.
Forty-nine buildings had already been constructed. Bridges and railway over-bridges (144) worth Rs 1050 crore had been sanctioned. Twenty-three bridges had been completed by now.
Chief Minister Raman Singh had recently asked the Chhattisgarh Road Development Corporation (CGRDC) officials to lay a network of 808 kilometers roads at a cost of Rs 2179 crore in another 18 months time.
He directed officials to complete the laying of roads by May 2018, officials informed.
The Chief Minister also laid stress on completing the rural road connectivity projects so that the villagers can have smooth all-weather transport in the years to come.
Singh was reviewing the road development projects recently at the Mantralaya in Naya Raipur.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister ordered the inclusion of Dhamdha- Gandai- Salhetekri in Rajnandgaon district in the ongoing roads’ network project. The 39-kilometer road will be laid at a cost of Rs 120 crore.
The officers gave a detailed presentation of the roads project being laid in the State.
The Chhattisgarh Government has set 2018 deadline to complete construction of an additional 3,000 kms of road network with an investment of USD 2.34 billion.
This is based on the basis of an Annuity/BOT/Loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), official sources informed.
Notably, ADB had also been helping Chhattisgarh government upgrade about 916 kilometers of roads in the State.
The works include development of new road sections, two laning work, constructing and strengthening culverts and bridges, officials stated.
Notably, new stretches of rural roads are rapidly coming up in Chhattisgarh with massive funding support from ADB, officials stated.
The ADB has provided lending support to Chhattisgarh for projects undertaken under PMGSY.
The international funding agency had been helping to either construct or upgrade 31,000 kms of rural roads in the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradsh, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam nationally, officials stated.
Notably, the Chhattisgarh Government has already started taking steps to even settle the forest land disputes under the Forest Protection Act 1980 as early as possible for accelerating the process of laying of roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) (Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Project), officials stated.
A time-bound action plan has been chalked out for various departments to settle the issues relating to forest land expeditiously, officials stated.
Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand in a circular issued last year had directed that all the road works should be completed in a time-bound manner.
The Chief Secretary said that the land area should be inspected by the Forest Department officer on the next day itself. The District Collector should be informed if there is any delay. The concerned Collector should settle the issue in within 10 days. The time-frame has been fixed as per the hectares of forest land.
The officers of Panchayat and Rural Development Department in a State-level Standing Committee of Panchayat and Rural Development Department chaired by the Chief Secretary in December last year had taken stock of the status of roads and structures being constructed under PMGSY.
It was informed in the meeting that 5124 permanent roads have been constructed in Phase 1 to 8 of the scheme. The total length of these roads is 22750 km. These include roads constructed in Phase 1 to 8 of the scheme besides roads constructed in different phases of Rural Road Connectivity Programme of the Asian Development Bank.
The construction of these roads has facilitated people of 7610 rural settlements for commuting in these all weather roads, it was informed. Hardy Nickerson Jersey
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