23,850km of rural roads under construction

Patna: Bihar government has planned to construct 37,908km of rural roads under Mukhyamantri Gram Sampark Yojna (MMGSY) to link all the habitats having a population of over 250 with all-weather road in the next five years. This was announced by rural works department (RWD) minister Shrawan Kumar in the state assembly on Wednesday while replying to debate on the budgetary demand of his department for Rs 5,292.86 crore. The demand was approved by the assembly rejecting the cut motions.

Kumar said during the last nine years ending May 2014, the state government under its schemes spent Rs 6,620.83 crore for construction of 14,592.73km of roads. Apart from this, another 30,040km of roads were constructed at a cost of Rs 14,017.70 crore under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) during this period. A sum of Rs 2,240 crore has been spent on the repair of 10,106km of roads.

“In all, 23,850km of roads are being constructed under various schemes in the state,” Kumar said while admitting that in some cases, standard of the construction work could not be maintained but assured the members that responsibility would be fixed and action taken against the erring officials. The minister alleged non-cooperation by the Centre in the implementation of different schemes and said fund was not being allotted to the state as per specification.

The minister said MMGSY is a highly ambitious scheme and the target is to cover 32,199 villages and habitats with over 250 population in 27 districts. In 11 districts identified under the centrally-sponsored Integrated Action Plan exclusively for the Maoist-affected districts, 8,658 villages linked with all-weather roads.

Under the PMGSY, villages having a population of over 500 are being linked with metalled roads. In 2014-15, altogether 11,000km of roads will be constructed. The minister said under yet another ambitious scheme ‘Apki Sarkar Apke Dwar’, the target is to provide road connectivity to Maoist-affected regions and construct Panchayat Sarkar Bhavans there. Under this programme, 65 panchayats spread over 25 blocks in Gaya, Rohtas, Jehanabad, East and West Champaran, Munger, Patna and Arwal have been selected. During the last nine years, 797.84km of roads have been constructed at a cost of Rs 335.87 crore, he said.

Courtesy: TNN