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 Rs228.56 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 Rs1000 crores to 35 worst lWE affected districts in seven states recently.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has allocated fund Rs28.57 crores per district. Thus, Jharkhand is allocated Rs457.12 crore, Chhattisgarh Rs 228.56 crore, Bihar Rs171.42 crore, Odisha Rs57.14 crore and Rs28.57 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 5,266 cement concrete (CC) roads having a total length of 1,530 kms in various villages of the State as on May 31, 2016 under ‘Mukhyamantri Gram Sadak Yojana’, officials informed.
Till date, 6,182 works have been approved for construction of cement concrete roads measuring 1,734 kms, under this scheme. A sum of Rs1,038 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 Rs711 crore.
Budget provision of Rs250 crores was made for Mukhyamantri Gaurav Path Yojana for year 2015-16. In the current fiscal year, Rs175 crore have been provisioned in the budget.
Moreover, Chhattisgarh Road Development Corporation (CGRDC) has identified 61 different projects for construction of roads.
Out of 61 roads, 56 Roads covering length of 1,859.25 kms have been identified for development under Hybrid Annuity Model and 5 roads under (B0T) Toll mode, officials stated.
The State Government is planning to construct roads measuring 13,000 km with an investment of Rs42,000 crore over the next three years. The budget allocation during 2016-17 for this is a massive Rs6,101 crore, representing an increase of 56 per cent over the preceding year.
Notably, a total of 12 roads have been marked under Chhattisgarh State Road Development Project, out of which work on developing six roads has already been started, officials stated.
This year, 3724 kms of roads have been built and upgraded and construction of 41 bridges has been completed. Construction of 123 bridges is in progress.
It may be recalled that the Centre has also approved as many as three new National Highway projects in Chhattisgarh during the past three financial years.
The cumulative cost of the highway projects stood at Rs150.37 crores, officials stated.
The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has approved Rs3,300 crore for broadening and upgradation of the National Highways in Chhattisgarh.
Notably in July this year, the Centre had also announced that it would award contracts for three key road projects in Chhattisgarh measuring 149 kms to be developed at an estimated cost of Rs3,522 crores this year, officials stated.
The Central Government had also sanctioned an amount of Rs305.56 crore for 10 important works under Central Road Fund Scheme during 2015-16 in Chhattisgarh, officials stated. These 10 works include construction of one road route, two Railway over-bridges and under-bridges, one fly-over and bridge.
PWD Minister Rajesh Munat had stated that these works have been approved by Central Government this year for ensuring smooth traffic movement in busy areas of the State. It may be recalled that the Chhattisgarh Government will also spend Rs1500 crore for laying a network of roads across the State.