The Union Rural Development Ministry is hoping to surpass the construction target of 48,812 kilometres of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and reach to 52,000 kilometres by the end of fiscal 2016-17.
Till date, 36,000 kilometres of roads have been completed across the States. “By the end of this fiscal, it is estimated that about 52,000 kilometres of roads would be built as the pace of construction gathers pace in the month of February and March exceeding the targeted 133 Kms per day of rural roads construction.
“Use of clean and green technology and space technology is being made exceedingly to increase the pace of rural roads constructions,” said Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, and Drinking Water and Sanitation, Narendra Singh Tomar at a Press conference here.
He said that rural development and Swachh Bharat Mission are the key focus areas of the government that is well reflected in the enhanced allocation of resources in the General Budget 2017. Referring to MGNREGA, he said that Rs 48,000 Crore has been allocated for the rural job scheme, which is the highest ever allocation and due to renewed focus on the scheme and demand for more work, additional resources will be mobilised in the near future.
Tomar also informed that the Government is also working on a proposal to provide additional Rs 42,000 crore of bank credit to Self Help Groups (SHGs) for the empowerment of women in the rural areas. He said, more than Rs 93,000 crore of credit was already mobilised by the banks this year for nearly 30 lakh SHGs working in the country having an enrolment of nearly 3 crore rural women.
On the issue of safe drinking water, Tomar informed that the Prime Minister has earmarked Rs 25,000 crores to complete this mission within 4 years out of which Rs 12500 crores will be the contribution by the Central Government.
He said, while West Bengal suffers the problem of arsenic in some blocks, Rajasthan has the problem of fluoride in the drinking water.