Govt Plans Changing Norms For Including Less Populated Villages In Rural Road Scheme

(MENAFN- Live Mint) The government proposes to revamp its rural road scheme by
expanding its coverage to the remotest parts of rural India in a bid to spur economic activity, raise incomes and alleviate poverty, two persons in the know of the developments said.

The Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) will bring in unconnected villages and habitations with a population of 300-400 people in the plains and 100 people in hill, desert areas and some tribal and backwards regions, one of the two persons said.

The present norm under PMGSY, which is in its third phase currently, is to provide connectivity, by way of an all-weather road to the unconnected habitations in rural areas with a population of 500 and above in the plains and 250 and above in respect of the hill states, desert areas, tribal areas and selected tribal and backward districts.

The new eligibility conditions may be run as an independent programme or included as part of the new PMGSY IV, the second person said adding that the scheme, now in its 24th year of operation, may propose the changes in the upcoming union budget, to be presented on 23 July.

The expected PMGSY IV may get token allocation in the budget with full provisions being made from next year onwards after detailed alignment to be covered under it is finalised and projects are awarded, first person quoted above said.

However, while hailing the proposed move, former social welfare minister of unified Jammu & Kashmir Sakina Itoo raised doubts, saying that the present government claims a lot, but in reality, there is insignificant development on the ground.

“Let's hope it works well, and that the left-out villages get road connectivity under the rural road scheme," Itoo said.

The interim budget presented in February 2024 has already provided ₹16,600 crore as a central outlay for the scheme, which is currently implementing PMGSY-III for the consolidation of 125,000 km of through routes and major rural links connecting habitations, inter alia, to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), higher secondary schools, and hospitals. Additionally, the Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (RCPLWEA) is underway. PMGSY-I and PMGSY-II are almost at their end, with more than 99% of the work completed.

“It will provide better road connectivity in small villages, resulting in employment generation as carrying out development works will become easier with improved road connectivity," said Arun Kumar, a retired Professor of economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“Better road connectivity will give them access to mandis and other markets, improving trade activities. When there is investment in villages, it will create employment opportunities and contribute to the growth of the economy," Kumar said.

The Central government launched PMGSY on 25 December 2000, to provide all-weather road connectivity to eligible unconnected habitations in rural areas.

Since then, ₹3.8 trillion has been spent in different versions of the scheme that has constructed about 760,000 km rural roads out of the sanctioned 813,924 km in the three phases of PMGSY and one phase of RCPLWEA.

The scheme has a 60:40 funding pattern between the centre and the states. The central funding is higher upto 90% for hill states. About 50,000 km is expected to be completed by FY25.

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