Road, bridge works under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana to complete within timeline

New Delhi, Dec 14: As per the programme guidelines of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the timeline for completion of road work is 12 working months from the date of issue of the work order. Union Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said in a written reply presented in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. However, where a package comprises more than one road work, the total time given for completion of the package is 18 calendar months. Similarly, a time period of 21-24 months has been allowed for completion of bridge works exceeding 25-meter in length, depending on site conditions. The implementation of all sanctioned works under PMGSY is being monitored through online Monitoring Information System named Online Management, Monitoring and Accounting System (OMMAS) on real time basis. In addition, the progress is regularly reviewed by the Ministry by way of Regional Review Meetings (RRMs), Performance Review Committee (PRC) Meetings, Pre-Empowered/ Empowered Committee Meetings with the States. At District level, the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) headed by Hon’ble Member of Parliament (LS) monitors the implementation of various schemes of Government of India including PMGSY. Besides above, special review meetings/monthly review meetings are also held by Secretary/ Additional Secretary/Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development with Chief Secretaries/Principal Secretaries of the States to take stock of the progress of the scheme and remove the bottlenecks, if any. No revision of project costs are allowed for the works sanctioned under PMGSY. This acts as a disincentive for the states who delay the completion of projects. Further, action for closure of the projects is also taken from time to time wherever undue delays are seen. The issues of forest clearance and other bottlenecks such as availability of construction materials, law & order issues are also taken up with the concerned stakeholders. All the projects sanctioned under PMGSY-I & II are targeted for completion by September, 2022. The projects under Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (RCPLWEA) are targeted for completion by March, 2023. The implementation period of PMGSY-III is up to March, 2025. A total of 1,29,549 km road length has been constructed during the last three years and the current year under various interventions/verticals of PMGSY as per the details given below:- wp:table YearRoad length constructed (in km)2018-1948,0932019-2027,3052020-2136,6742021-22 (as on 10.12.2021)17,477 /wp:table The Government has received proposals from State Governments and public representatives to relax the norms under new connectivity component of PMGSY to include habitations as per Census, 2011, instead of 2001, as many habitations which had population of less than 500 and 250 in plain and North-East & Hill States respectively in 2001 have crossed the threshold population benchmark in 2011. Some proposals have also been received to further lower the population criteria below 250 also. There is no proposal as of now to relax the norms for eligibility of habitations for providing connectivity under PMGSY. The proposals for construction of bridges received and sanctioned under PMGSY during the last three years and current year, state-wise are given at Annexure. Proposals for construction of bridges received and sanctioned wp:table S. No.Name of the StateNo. of bridge proposals received & sanctioned1Andhra Pradesh472Arunachal Pradesh963Assam3764Bihar6095Chhattisgarh1096Gujarat447Himachal Pradesh228Jammu And Kashmir809Jharkhand13910Karnataka10111Kerala312Madhya Pradesh58013Maharashtra7514Manipur9615Meghalaya7116Nagaland5317Odisha15618Punjab1619Rajasthan620Sikkim3221Tamilnadu3622Tripura223Uttar Pradesh1624Uttarakhand27125West Bengal6026Telangana11527Ladakh1 Total3,212 /wp:table