Chhattisgarh has been given target to complete 2000 kms of rural roads to connect 750 habitations during the current financial year under Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), as per the latest Central Government data available .
As per the data, the State completed 197.253 kms of roads in the current financial year as of date while connecting 44 habitations.
During 2016-17, the State was given a target to complete 2,750 kms of roads, out of which it completed 1019.565 kms of roads while connecting 270 habitations.
In 2015-16, the State was given target to complete 1950 kms of roads out of which it exceeded the target by completing 2014.400 kms of roads with target habitation of 975 to be connected out of which it connected 565 habitations, the data revealed.
Notably, the Union Ministry of Rural Development considers Chhattisgarh as one among 10 states with ‘historical deficit of rural roads’.
“Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is being implemented across the country, particularly, in States having historical deficit of rural roads (Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, J&K and Utttrakhand ) as never before”, according to Ministry press release issued earlier.
The pace of construction of PMGSY roads reached a 7 year high of 130 kms per day in 2016-17 as against an average of 73 kms during the period 2011 to 2014. In the present financial year 2017-18, the target is to construct 57,000 kms of PMGSY roads, at an average per day rate of 156 kms and to provide connectivity to 16,600 eligible habitations.
In the first quarter of the present financial year 2017-18 (April-June, 2017), a total of 10,556 kms of PMGSY roads have been constructed, clocking an average of 117.28 kms per day. This compares very favorably to the first quarter of 2016-17 (April-June, 2016), when a total length of 8,756 kms was constructed at an average of 97.29 kms per day. The progress in terms of length constructed in the present financial year is 18.51% of the total annual target. The present rate of construction would further accelerate from October, 2017 to March, 2018. Hence, there is every reason to believe that the annual targets will be met with a strong probability of achievement exceeding the targets.
Against an annual target of providing connectivity to 16,600 eligible habitations, in the first quarter of the financial year 2017-18, 2,543 habitations have been provided connectivity, which is 15.31% of the annual target.
PMGSY aims to connect 1,78,184 eligible habitations across the country out of which projects relating to 1,61,576 habitations have already been sanctioned (90.67% of the eligible habitations) and 1,29,004 habitations have been connected till June, 2017 (72.39% of eligible habitations and 79.84% of sanctioned habitations), by constructing a total of 5,12,031 kms of roads.
PMGSY has also focused on use of non-conventional construction materials (waste plastic, cold mix, fly ash, jute and coir geo-textiles, iron and copper slag, cell filled concrete, paneled cement concrete etc.) and “Green Technologies” in PMGSY roads. The target for use of such materials and technologies during 2017-18 is 10,082 kms. Against this target, in the first quarter of the financial year till June, 2018, 1,235.22 kms have been constructed. The States which are doing particularly well in this field are Rajasthan (381 kms), Punjab (181 kms), Odisha (131.38 kms), Madhya Pradesh (116.07 kms) and Tamil Nadu (102 kms).
Notably, a total of 6372 rural roads measuring 26,815 kms had been prepared in Chhattisgarh so far involving an expenditure of Rs 7880 crore under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) during the last financial year till the month of March.
This was informed by officials in the State-level Permanent Committee meeting of Chhattisgarh Rural Roads Development Authority chaired by Chief Secretary Vivek Dhand at the Mantrlaya in March.
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.
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. The ADB has provided lending support to Chhattisgarh for projects undertaken under Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (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 added.
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).
A time-bound action plan has been chalked out for various departments to settle the issues relating to forest land expeditiously.
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.
In the meeting it was also informed that construction of 337 roads was completed at a cost of Rs 715 crore under PMGSY in the financial year 2013-14. The length of these roads is 1292 km and their construction has linked 969 settlements.
As many as 37 roads have been sanctioned under the advance technology of PMGSY. Among these, construction of four roads has been completed while construction of 10 roads is under progress.