New Delhi: A record 47,350 kilometres of rural roads were constructed under the flagship Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) during 2016-17, the longest road construction in a single year, said a statement from the rural development ministry. The number is the highest in seven years, it said.
While, 25,316km of PMGSY roads were constructed in 2013-14, the number was 36,337km in 2014-15 and 36,449km in 2015-16, the statement said.
The move is expected to provide a major fillip to rural India’s economy, enabling farmers to reach the produce to markets in quicker time frames—key to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans to ensure doubling of farmers’ income by 2022. It also means other benefits for rural India like improved access to education and healthcare.
According to a statement by the ministry of rural development, during the period 2011-14, the average rate of construction of PMGSY roads was 73km per day, which increased to 100km per day during 2014-15 and 2015-16.
In 2016-17, a record construction of 130km per day of rural roads has been achieved, which is the highest average annual construction rate in the last seven years.
Some 11,614 habitations were provided connectivity by construction of 47,350km of PMGSY roads during 2016-17 or an average of 32 habitations were provided connectivity every day.
To reduce the “carbon footprint” of rural roads, reduce environmental pollution, increase the working season and bring cost effectiveness, PMGSY is aggressively encouraging use of green technologies and non-conventional materials like waste plastic, cold mix, geo-textiles, fly-ash, iron and copper slag in rural roads.
PMGSY was launched in 2000 by the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government with the objective of providing all-weather road connectivity to unconnected rural habitations. It is being seen by the present NDA government as a key tool to spur domestic economic growth, given that the global economy recovery remains weak at present.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced an allocation of Rs19,000 crore for the programme in the 2017-18 budget—the same as in 2016-17. Presenting the budget for 2017-18, Jaitley had identified the rural population as well as the poor and underprivileged as two of 10 special focus areas of the government.
