60 per cent of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana target remains incomplete in Odisha

BHUBANESWAR:  The State government has completed only 1,457 km of rural road under the flagship Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) against the annual target of 3,685 km. The success rate is 40 per cent (pc).

"A total of 1,457 km road length has been constructed in Odisha against the target of 3,685 km road during 2020-21. The State has been able to provide all-weather connectivity to 253 habitations against the target of 317 habitations as on March 3," said Union Minister of Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar in Lok Sabha.

Replying to a question of BJP MP Jual Oram, the Union Minister said the target for 2021-22 has not yet been fixed.

In view of the disruption of normal life after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, the State government had requested the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to scale down the target from 3,720 km to 2,095 km. However, the Ministry revised the target to 3,685 km, a reduction of only 35 km while keeping the number of habitations to be connected at 317.

Responding to another query, Tomar in a written reply said a total of 16,517 road works with a length of 65,307 km have been sanctioned since the inception of PMGSY in 2000 till March 31, 2020.

However, the State has completed 14,753 road works with a total length of 60,347 km by the end of the last financial year.

This includes construction of eight road projects of 178 km length in the Left Wing Extremist (LWE) area. The Centre had sanctioned 48 road projects (486 km) for the LWE areas of the State, Tomar said.
The State government has set a target to build 4,000 km of rural roads under PMGSY in 2021-22 for which the Finance Minister has allocated Rs 2,000 crore in the budget. 

Rural connectivity

• 3,685 km revised PMGSY target for 2020-21 

• 60,347 km completed by March 3, 2020

• 65,307 km  total road length sanctioned