Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Roads to link remote villages to be laid soon

MADURAI: More than 100 km of roads linking remote villages in the district are going to be laid during this financial year at an estimated cost of Rs. 21.86 crore under a Centrally-sponsored scheme.

Work orders to execute 59 projects are going to be issued shortly as the process of finalising tenders has been completed by the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), official sources told The Hindu.

The works were being taken up under the Union Government’s Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) and the Bharat Nirman Programme. The primary objective of the schemes was to provide connectivity by way of all-weather roads to the eligible unconnected habitations in the rural areas.

According to sources, these 59 projects come under Phase-II of Bharat Nirman Programme (or) PMGSY Phase VII. Apart from this, under the Phase VI of PMGSY, 18 new projects taken up during the end of last fiscal are also continuing. Among the 18 projects, 17.08 km of roads were being laid at a cost of 3.82 crore, sources said.

Buses should be able to ply on these roads. In order to ensure quality, national and State quality monitors, besides local officials, carry out periodic inspections. All project sites have ‘citizen’s boards’ containing information about the project, sources said.

Speaking about the other similar projects in the district, sources said that the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was extending a loan covering 80 per cent of project cost to lay roads under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) with the rest coming from the State Government.

A total of 27 projects were going on for laying 24.3 km roads at a cost of Rs. 8.36 crore under this scheme in Madurai district. Apart from this, 29 roads to a stretch of 62.54 km have already been completed at an estimated cost of Rs. 8.07 crore, sources said.

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