PMGSY road dev work for 2018-19 to begin soon

The State Government will soon start construction of roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) batch-I year 2018-19 , officials informed.

The State of Chhattisgarh has reported to have constructed 81 roads measuring length 410.42 Km under New Connectivity and 2 roads measuring length 8.25 Km roads under upgradation till December, 2017, the Central Government has informed.

As per PMGSY guidelines, maintenance of roads constructed under the programme is the responsibility of the State Governments and all road works are covered by initial five year maintenance contracts to be entered into along with the construction contract, with the same contractor, as per the Standard Bidding Document. Maintenance funds to service the contract are required to be budgeted by the State Governments and placed at the disposal of the State Rural Roads Development Agency (SRRDA) in a separate maintenance account.

On expiry of this five year post construction maintenance, PMGSY roads are required to be placed under Zonal maintenance contracts consisting of 5 year maintenance including renewal as per cycle, from time to time. In the current financial year, the State credited Rs 24 crore for routine maintenance of PMGSY roads constructed earlier, out of which an expenditure of Rs  7.00 crore has been incurred till December, 2017.

The State of Chhattisgarh has provided Rs 225.967 crore as State Share for the financial year 2017-18 .

In Chhattisgarh as well as , LWE areas of Jharkhand, there is challenge for Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) implementation on account of Left Wing Extremism (LWE). The states of Bihar and West Bengal which also have large connectivity to achieve and therefore, require speedy implementation, the Central Government has informed.

The Ministry is constantly following up with all these States to ensure achievement of targets by March 2019. Funds are not a constraint and States have been forthcoming with their State share, it informed.

The major challenge lies in Assam, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttrakhand on account of the difficult terrain.

To further enable ease of decision making, monitoring and transparency, the Department is committed to complete GIS mapping of all rural roads of the country by 2018.

The Chhattisgarh government has informed that new roads measuring 1320 kms have been completed in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) infested districts of the State under Centre’s RRP-I scheme.