The total density of National Highways (NHs) in Chhattisgarh is at 23.4 kms per 1000 square kms out of the total length of 3,168 kms in the State, the Central Government has informed.

The declaration of State Roads as new NHs are done from time to time keeping in view the requirements of connectivity and availability of funds, it informed.

About 47,890 km length of State Roads have been approved “In-Principle” for their declaration as new NHs in the country subject to outcome of their Detailed Project Reports (DPRs).

Notably, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and  Highways allocated Rs 1533.68 crores to Chhattisgarh for development of national highways during the current financial year, the Central Government has informed.

A total of Rs 895.63 crore had already been spent so far for development of national highways in the State, it informed.

During the last financial year, a total of Rs 359.94 crore was allocated out of which Rs 339.80 crore was spent for the development of national highways in Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarh is also all set to get new national highways (NHs) with roads totalling length of 1367 kms, inform officials.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has assured of initiating necessary steps in this direction, they informed.

The assurance came during a meeting held between Chhattisgarh Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Rajesh Munat and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari in New Delhi recently.

Munat had informed the Union Minister that in February this year the latter had announced of constructing new highway of 1285 km in Chhattisgarh.

As per the present requirement of the State, a proposal for sanctioning of additional 1367 kms highways has been sent to the Ministry, he said.

The Chhattisgarh Government has completed development of 6,279 roads measuring a total of 26,504 kms under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, officials informed.

As many as 8,533 settlements near the new main roads had been benefitted by the projects out of 10,560 identified as per the guidelines of the scheme.

State Panchayat and Rural Development officials informed that under the scheme, a total of 9461 settlements have been approved to be benefitted from the scheme in which a total of 6,279 roads had been completed.

Notably, the Central government had also been implementing various developmental schemes through its different Ministries/Departments for creating infrastructure in the lWE affected regions of the country including Chhattisgarh. Some of such schemes are Road Requirement Plan-I (RRP-I), Construction of fortified Police Stations, Mobile Towers and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) etc., the report informed.

The Road Requirement Plan-I (RRP-I) scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways for improving road connectivity in 34 most lWE affected districts. This scheme envisages 5,422 Km road lengths.

The left Wing Extremists often oppose any development activities in the areas of their influence and try to obstruct the implementation of the schemes, officials stated.

Consequently, some projects are delayed beyond their scheduled time. However, as and when such incidents come into the notice of the Government, adequate security is provided by deployment of Security Forces.

Besides, the Central Government has provided various relaxations for taking up the works in lWE affected areas ensuring early and timely completion of the projects. These relaxations include accepting of tenders up to 10% higher of the updated cost, splitting the works in smaller parts, awarding of works on nomination basis, separate Schedule of Rates (SoR), extended completion period and general exemption upto 5 hectare forest land under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

While taking it as a challenge, the Chhattisgarh Government has completed construction of 1052 kms of roads in insurgency infested pockets of the State with co-operation of the Central Government, State PWD Minister Rajesh Munat said recently.

In an official statement issued here, Munat said that the police provided adequate security cover to road development projects in the red zones.

Notably, a total of 16 districts of Chhattisgarh remain insurgency-infested out of the 106 districts in 10 States as identified by the Central Government as ‘left Wing Extremism’ (lWE) affected districts in the country, according to the latest Central Government data.

The districts are – Bastar,  Bijapur, Dantewada, Jashpur,  Kanker, Koriya (Baikunthpur), Narayanpur, Rajnandgaon, Surguja, Dhamtari, Mahasamund ,Gariaband, Balod, Sukma, Kondagaon and Balrampur.

Chhattisgarh is also among the seven worst left Wing Extremism (lWE) states which been allocated Rs 228.56 crore as Additional Central Assistance (ACA) by Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had approved the State-wise allocation of Additional Central Assistance of Rs 1000 crores to 35 worst lWE affected districts in seven states recently.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has allocated fund Rs 28.57 crores per district. Thus, Jharkhand is allocated Rs 457.12 crore, Chhattisgarh Rs 228.56 crore, Bihar Rs 171.42 crore, Odisha Rs 57.14 crore and Rs 28.57 crore each to the States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

In an attempt to boost-up developmental works in insurgency-hit districts, the Chhattisgarh Government  has decided to fix three percent amount of cost of construction works funded by the Centre as ‘protection component’.

Chhattisgarh Government had completed construction of 5266 cement concrete (CC) roads having a total length of 1530 kms in various villages of the State as on May 31, 2016 under 'Mukhyamantri Gram Sadak Yojana', officials informed.

Till date, 6182 works have been approved for construction of cement concrete roads measuring 1734 kms, under this scheme. A sum of Rs 1038 crore have been sanctioned for these works.

Panchayat and Rural Development Department officials informed that 'Mukhyamantri Gram Gaurav Path Yojana' was started in year 2012-13, on the lines of Gaurav Path scheme being in cities, under which cement concrete roads and drains are constructed in villages.

This scheme has provision to build roads of minimum 200m and maximum 500m length, with width of 6m. Under this scheme, it is compulsory to build drain on one side of the road.

Officials informed that 88 per cent of approved works, including ongoing works of year 2015-16, have been completed at the cost of nearly Rs 711 crore.

Budget provision of Rs 250 crores was made for Mukhyamantri Gaurav Path Yojana for year 2015-16. In the current fiscal year, Rs 175 crore have been provisioned in the budget.

Moreover,  Chhattisgarh Road Development Corporation (CGRDC) has identified 61 different projects for construction of roads.