Question : Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

(a) whether the Government has reviewed the progress made in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), if so, the details and the outcome thereof including the targets fixed and the achievements under the scheme during the last three years;

(b) whether the Government has fixed any time frame to speed up the execution of rural roads so as to achieve full rural connectivity by March, 2019 and if so, the details thereof along with the number of habitations covered by all weather roads under PMGSY so far and the number of habitations yet to be covered along with the steps taken by the Government to cover those habitations;

(c) whether some of the States are facing problems in implementing the scheme, if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor along with the steps proposed to be taken by the Government to help those States to overcome the problems, State-wise;

(d) whether deficiencies in the construction of roads under the scheme have come to the notice of the Government during the last three years, if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government to remove those deficiencies; and

(e) whether the Government has launched Geographic Information System (GIS) based mapping of all rural roads, if so, the details thereof and the time by which the said mapping is likely to be completed?

MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.


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Statement referred to in reply to Parts (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No.547
for answer on 05.4.2018

(a): The status of progress made in implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is regularly reviewed in the Regional Review Meetings (RRMs), Performance Review Meeting (PRC), Pre-Empowered Committee and Empowered Committee Meetings with the States. Also, at District level, the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (Disha) headed by a Member of Parliament monitors the implementation of various schemes of Government of India including PMGSY. In addition to this, special review meetings are also held by Secretary/Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development with Chief Secretaries of the States. Review meetings were also held by the Minister of Rural Development on 15th December, 2017 and 28th February, 2018.

The target fixed and achievements under the scheme during the last three years are as follows:-

Year Length (in Km)

Target Achievement

2014-15 21,775 36,337

2015-16 33,649 36,449

2016-17 48,812 47,447

(b): The Government of India has taken a decision to accelerate execution of PMGSY-I to provide connectivity to eligible habitations as per the Core Network of PMGSY by March, 2019. The number of eligible unconnected habitations as per the Core Network is 1,78,184, out of which 1,63,429 habitations have been sanctioned by the Ministry (till February,2018). The States have reported that 1,30,415 habitations have been connected till February, 2018. The State Governments have been requested to get approval for sanction of balance works of New Connectivity and upgradation under PMGSY-I as per mandate of the scheme and complete them latest by March, 2019 so as to provide connectivity to all eligible unconnected habitations.

(c): The problems being faced by some of States as reported by them , inter-alia, include:

(i) Difficult terrain particularly in Hill States and North-Eastern States; shorter working season;

(ii) Scarcity of the construction materials



The Ministry of Rural Development has taken a number of initiatives to meet the above challenges faced by the States. The Ministry has engaged Central Public Sector Undertakings (CPSUs) in some of the States to augment execution capacity of the States. The Ministry has also conducted number of Contractor’s Outreach Programmes in the States to attract the Contractors in the implementation of the Programme. Further, in order to encourage locally available materials and use of green technologies, guidelines were issued by the Ministry, wherein the State Governments are required to propose minimum 15% of total length of annual proposals under New technologies such as Cement stabilization, Lime stabilization, Cold mix, Waste plastics, Cell filled concrete, Paneled cement concrete pavement, Fly ash etc. The Ministry is also in constant touch with the State Governments and other stake holders to address the security concerns for smooth implementation of PMGSY.

(d): No specific deficiency in the construction of roads has been brought to the notice of the Ministry by the States. However, the Ministry of Rural Development/ National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) have been regularly making efforts to overcome and improve road construction with the latest design and specification with the help of World Bank and Indian Roads Congress (IRC). The PMGSY is a well-structured programme. A three-tier Quality Control mechanism viz. Project Inspection Unit (PIU), State Quality Monitors (SQM) and National Quality Monitors (NQM) is envisaged under the PMGSY for ensuring construction of quality road works and durability of road assets under PMGSY. This system also detects deficiencies in material and workmanship of PMGSY roads and such deficiencies are promptly brought to the notice of the State Government for rectification.

(e) : The Ministry of Rural Development had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), through the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA), with the Centre for Development of Advance Computing (CDAC), Pune on 27.10.2015 through which all rural roads including roads under PMGSY in the country are mapped on Geographic Information System (GIS) platform. The work of GIS has been commenced in all the Districts in the 28 States and GIS has been completed in 19 States namely Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Tripura and Uttarakhand. The National level Web based GIS for PMGSY is available on public domain from 29th January, 2018 which can be accessed via url: www.pmgsy-grris.nic.in.