As many as 14 States, including those ruled by the BJP, have failed miserably in implementing the Centre’s ambitious bid to use green technology for construction of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). In the last quarter, just 10 per cent of the target set for the current fiscal has been achieved as a result.
According to the data available with the Union Rural Development Ministry, which oversees the rural road scheme in the country, just 1,078 km roads have been made using the cost-effective technology during April 2016 to December, 20, 2016 against the target length of 10,063 km for 2016-17 in these States. (See Box)
Officials in the Ministry admit that given the dismal response, the States will not be able to even construct 1,500 km length of roads in the full fiscal.
This, despite the Centre making it mandatory for the States to use at least 15 per cent length of their annual proposals under PMGSY to be based on new or non-conventional materials/technology including, jute and coir geo-textiles, as per the “Guidelines of Technology initiatives under PMGSY”, issued by the Ministry in 2013.
The Sates have been given wide ranges of options for implementing environment-friendly technologies like fly ash, iron and copper slag, mining waste, geo-textile, lime and cement stabilisation, Zydex Nano-Technology and waste plastic among others.
In the last two years ie 2014-15 and 2015-16, a total 2,700 km of rural roads were constructed across the country using eco-labour-friendly and cost-effective green technologies.
This seemed encouraging that time as in the last 14 years (2000-2014), out of more than 4.80 lakh km of roads only 800 km were built using green technologies. The Government had kept an ambitious overall target length at 7,000 km for 2016-17 which was later increased to 10,063 km. Rajesh Bhushan, Joint Secretary (Rural Connectivity) of the RD Ministry, while, expressing his unhappiness at the poor pace in using green technologies has now asked the erring States to take personnel interest in the matter to reach to the target.
The RD Ministry along with the Textile Ministry is already providing support to the North-Eastern States for building roads made of environment-friendly coir and jute geo-textiles in the region through its programme “scheme for promoting usage of geotech-textiles in the North-Eastern region.”