Slow start for Naveen’s rural road projects

BHUBANESWAR: Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana, one of the pet projects of the state government, failed to take off effectively as only 136 km roads were constructed under the scheme in past two years.
The scheme was launched during 2014-15 fiscal aiming to provide all weather connectivity to around 3500 habitations covering around 10,000 km which were left out under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) scheme.
The scheme assumes connectivity to habitations having population of 499 to 100 in non-integrated action plan (IAP) districts and 249 to 100 to IAP districts.
While the state government has allocated Rs 150 crore during 2014-15 budget, it was enhanced to Rs 250 crore in the following year. In 2016-17, the state government earmarked Rs 375 crore for the project.
“The slow pace of work was due to delay in beginning of work. It has been instructed to the executing agency to take up the work expeditiously,” said rural development minister Badri Narayan Patra after a review meeting by chief minister Naveen Patnaik.
Naveen also reviewed the Biju Setu Yojana, a state sponsored scheme under which 401 rural bridges have been constructed. “Under the scheme, more 200 bridges would be constructed during the current fiscal,” Patra said.
Under PMGSY, the state government has so far received central assistance of Rs 14,955 crore against allocation of Rs 17815 crore.
“So far, we have constructed 9439 roads (36,478 KM) connecting 16,352 habitations under PMGSY. Construction of more than 2,000 roads would be taken up very soon,” Patra added.
To maintain quality of work, the chief minister has directed the rural development department to engage an independent agency for third-party assessment.