A total of 4,236 road and bridge construction projects are pending under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) I and II across states over the past three years, the fresh deadline for which was September this year. Challenges such as land acquisition, forest clearance, poor contracting capacity have impacted the overall work, causing delay, the Rural Development Ministry told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Issues such as adverse climate conditions, tough terrain and short working season also came in the way in north-eastern and hill states, where the projects are largely pending, which compounded the delay in the construction of roads under PMGSY, Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh said in a written reply in the Lower House.
As of September 30 this year, which was the new deadline set up by the ministry for completion of these projects, 2,819 roads (of 9,907km road length) and 920 bridges are yet to be constructed under PMGSY-I, while 400 roads (of 1,132 km road length) and 97 bridges are still to be completed under PMGSY-II, the data shared by the ministry showed.
The minister, in his reply, also said that ‘rural road’ is a state subject and hence construction of roads is the responsibility of the state governments.
Some of the states where the maximum number of projects were held up include Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and West Bengal, among others.
The timeline for completion of PMGSY-I was earlier till March 2019 and that of PMGSY-II was till March 2020. “Due to the above discussed factors and request made by states, the deadline for both the schemes was extended up to September 2022,” the response stated.
Similarly, a total of 1,190 road and bridge projects, under Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Areas (RCPLWEA), which were to be completed by March 2020, are still in a limbo while its deadline has now been extended to March 2023. These projects have been held up in states, including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
PMGSY was launched by the Union government to provide better connectivity to unconnected habitations of population size of 500-plus in plain areas and 250-plus in north-eastern and hill states as per the 2001 Census.
After PMGSY I and II, the third edition was launched in 2019 for consolidation of 1,25,000 km roads existing through routes and major rural links connecting habitations to primary health facilities, schools and agriculture marketing boards etc. The projects under PMGSY-III are slated to be completed by March 2025.
Meanwhile, RCPLWEA was launched in 2016 as a distinct vertical under PMGSY for construction and upgradation of 5,412 km road length and 126 bridges of strategic importance across 44 districts in nine states. The construction works under the scheme have been identified by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in consultation with the concerned states and security forces.
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