MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)
(a) to (b) The unit for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a Habitation and not a Revenue village or a Panchayat. The Government launched PMGSY in December 2000, as a one-time special intervention to provide rural connectivity, by way of a single all-weather road, to the eligible unconnected habitations of designated population size (500+ in plain areas and 250+ in North-Eastern States, Himalayan States and Himalayan Union Territories, Deserts and Tribal Areas as per 2001 census) in the core network for uplifting the socio-economic condition of the rural population. In the critical Left Wing Extremism affected blocks (as identified by Ministry of Home Affairs), additional relaxation has been given to connect habitations with population 100 persons and above (2001 census).
(c) The number of habitations in States/Union Territories in the country including Bihar benefited under PMGSY during the last three years is as per Annexure.
(d) to (e) PMGSY roads are constructed by the State Governments with a design life of at least 10 years. As per PMGSY guidelines, maintenance of roads constructed under the programme is the responsibility of the State Governments and all road works are covered by initial five year maintenance contracts to be entered into along with the construction contract, with the same contractor, as per the Standard Bidding Document. Maintenance funds to service the contract are required to be budgeted by the State Governments and placed at the disposal of the State Rural Roads Development Agencies (SRRDAs) in a separate maintenance account. On expiry of this 5 year post construction maintenance, PMGSY roads are required to be placed under Zonal maintenance contracts consisting of 5 year maintenance including renewal as per cycle, from time to time.
Since 2016-17, financial incentives are given to top performing States, which show higher achievement in the year on the basis of set parameters. This financial incentive is used by the States specifically for periodic maintenance of roads. Further, as a measure of enhancing the focus on maintenance of roads during the defect liability period and also streamline the delivery of routine maintenance of PMGSY roads, the Ministry has implemented the Electronic Maintenance of PMGSY roads (eMARG) in all the States. The eMARG is a GIS-based Enterprise e-Governance end-to-end solution, which entails performance based evaluation of roads for making maintenance related payments of these roads.
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