State government has finally ayed the Rs 710 crore proposal of Nagpur Zilla Parishad (ZP) to blanket (cover with murram) rural roads in district. ZP vice-president Nitin Rathi said that rural development minister Jayant Patil recently forwarded the proposal to union agriculture ministry.
Rathi said that there were 9,466 km untackled (kaccha) roads in the district. These roads mostly connected villages to fields and became impassable during rains. Some of the roads also linked small villages to each other. The road development plan was prepared by the agriculture department under its district plan. It required Rs 710 crore in four years with an annual installment of Rs 177.50 crore. The target was to blanket 2,666 km roads each year. The cost of road blanketing was Rs 7.5 lakh per km.
The state government in its letter to union agriculture secretary stated that several new big projects like Mihan, NTPC power plant were nearing completion. The irrigation potential of the district had increased due to Gosikhurd project. However, non-availability of blanketed roads was hampering development of the district. Rathi said that not a single km of untackled road would be left in the district after completion of the project. "We will then start tarring of roads in a phased manner," he added.
The proposal was sent to state government about two years ago when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power in ZP. However, the government did not show in any interest in it. When Congress-NCP came to power in ZP the NCP leaders in ZP pursued the matter with Jayant Patil. The minister sent the proposal to a three member committee comprising of chief secretary and principal secretaries of rural development and public works department. Union government does not consider any proposal unless it is approved by such committees.
Rathi said that there were 9,466 km untackled (kaccha) roads in the district. These roads mostly connected villages to fields and became impassable during rains. Some of the roads also linked small villages to each other. The road development plan was prepared by the agriculture department under its district plan. It required Rs 710 crore in four years with an annual installment of Rs 177.50 crore. The target was to blanket 2,666 km roads each year. The cost of road blanketing was Rs 7.5 lakh per km.
The state government in its letter to union agriculture secretary stated that several new big projects like Mihan, NTPC power plant were nearing completion. The irrigation potential of the district had increased due to Gosikhurd project. However, non-availability of blanketed roads was hampering development of the district. Rathi said that not a single km of untackled road would be left in the district after completion of the project. "We will then start tarring of roads in a phased manner," he added.
The proposal was sent to state government about two years ago when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power in ZP. However, the government did not show in any interest in it. When Congress-NCP came to power in ZP the NCP leaders in ZP pursued the matter with Jayant Patil. The minister sent the proposal to a three member committee comprising of chief secretary and principal secretaries of rural development and public works department. Union government does not consider any proposal unless it is approved by such committees.
0 comments:
Post a Comment