When muddy roads trapped innocent tribals at Gumuduguma in Kandhmal to death as SOG jawans opened fire at them mistaking as Maoists, it not only burdened the ruling BJD with ‘collateral political damage’ but also popped out in open the pathetic progress of rural roads under flagship programme of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) implemented under the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) in 18 left-Wing Extremist (lWE) hit areas.
The reality is Odisha could take up mere 29 per cent of sanctioned roads under PMGSY in the 18 IAP districts during the last decade, and even their progress is moving at a snail’s pace now, reveals the data available with the State Rural Development Department.
And, Kandhamal has the worst record to show. Data reveals that when a high of 82 per cent roads in Kandhamal are kutcha in nature, not even 5 per cent roads under PMGSY have been completed in the last decade ended in 2015.
Overall, when the State saw a sanctioned road projects totalling over 7,422 in the 18 districts, works have been taken up in little over 2,170 projects till date.
The yawning gap has thus risen to inappreciably high state, observed experts. A high of over 26, 200 habitations in Odisha are yet to be connected via PMGSY roads, and over 70 per cent of them fall in lWE-hit districts.
Even the districts of Koraput and Malkangiri, where the sanctioned road length is over 3,247 km, the completion rate has been around 55 per cent only. And, the completion rate of Odisha looks pallid here when Bihar has achieved a completion rate of 69 per cent, Jharkhand recorded 64 per cent and Chhattisgarh showed a high of 76 per cent completion rate till last fiscal.
Though the State Rural Development Department often cites ‘Red threat’ as the cause, which forced the contractors to keep off from tendering process, other Maoists-hit States’ high completion rate poses many a question. Interestingly, Odisha has been mandated to complete 6, 200 km PMGSY road length in 2016-17 thereby providing connectivity to around 2,050 habitations.
But Odisha’s recent three-year period track record shows an achievement of around 3,000km length or less per year only.
“We have requested the Centre to urge Central organisations to take up PMGSY projects in IAP districts to accomplish the new target rate of complete connection to all habitations by 2019,
and tangible action would soon be seen on the ground,” said RD Minister Badri Narayan Patro.