The Centre on Wednesday approved the launch of the Phase-3 of its rural road programme to widen and revamp 1.25-lakh km of roads in the country. This will drastically help in increasing the connectivity of the villages with hospitals, schools, and markets. The government in its statement said that in a cabinet meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, the launch of Phase-3 of the Centre’s flagship rural road scheme Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was approved.
The plan in this phase involves agglomeration of 1.25-lakh km of existing rural roads that will help in connecting villages to rural agricultural markets, higher secondary schools, and hospitals. Also, the plastic waste will be used during the work on these roads.
According to the government, the duration of this phase will be five years tills 2014-25. Under this phase, the construction of bridges of up to 150m in plain areas and 200 m in Himalayan and northeastern states are proposed, as opposed to the existing provisions of 75 m and 100 m in plain areas and Himalayan and north-eastern states respectively.
States will be asked to enter into Memorandum of Understanding before launching PMGSY-III to provide adequate funds for maintenance of roads in the five-year period after construction. This will help in the easy and faster movements to the agricultural markets, and hospitals. The estimated cost is Rs 80,250 crores which would be shared in the ratio of 60:40 between the centre and the states. For the eight north-eastern and three Himalayan states, the ration will be 90:10.
As per the government data, 97% of all the eligible and feasible habitations have already been connected by all-weather roads under the PMGSY scheme.