Opposition-ruled states including, West Bengal, Telangana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand are the ones that lag the most in completing road-building projects in rural areas, leaving a large number of rural habitations unconnected
Eight non-BJP-ruled states have the slowest pace of road connectivity projects, with less than 50% work being completed for projects approved under the Centre’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), according to a report released by the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).
The report tracks the progress of the road building projects approved under the centrally-sponsored scheme in 2021-22 in all states across the country.
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Opposition-ruled states including, West Bengal, Telangana, Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand are the ones that lag the most in completing road-building projects in rural areas, leaving a large number of rural habitations unconnected.
In all these states, on an average, only 25%-30% work has been done so far, which is much lesser than in the BJP-ruled states where mostly 50% or more of the target has been achieved.
According to the report, in West Bengal, where the given target was to build road length of 1,200 km, only 119.65 km road has been laid so far. Similarly, in Telangana, against a sanctioned target of 1,500 km of road network, only 467.35 km has been built to date.
In Congress-ruled Rajasthan, out of the targeted 1,500 km road length work, only 500 km of road connectivity has been achieved during the period. Of the 1,000 km target, only 373.35 km has been completed in Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-ruled Punjab while YSRCP-ruled Andhra Pradesh has finished only 824.34 km road-laying work of the sanctioned 2,160 km length. Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are far behind in the tally with only 698.05 km being laid of 2,000 km target and 587.96 km completed of the 2874 km target, respectively, as per the government data.
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Besides, the northeastern states of Meghalaya and Mizoram, too, are on the list again because the road-building works in these areas are often delayed due to tough terrain. While the BJP has formed a coalition government in Meghalaya in the state assembly elections held this February, Mizoram is due for polls this November.
The only full-fledged BJP-ruled state, which is close to the slow progress of road development works in these Opposition-ruled states, is Uttarakhand, where road projects are delayed mainly on account of being a hill state. Here, 622.26 km of road length work has been completed of the targeted 1,400 km, the report said.
PMGSY is the Centre’s flagship scheme for building rural roads and linking country’s unconnected rural habitations with all-weathered roads to its highway road network towards “inclusive development” of the rural pockets.
In 2021, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs under Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the continuation of PMGSY – I and II for completion of pending projects up to September 2022 and for those under left-wing extremism affected areas (RCPLWEA) up to March 2023.
