Question : CRF Scheme

(a) whether the Government is providing financial assistance under the Central Road Fund Scheme (CRF) to improve quality of the roads in the country;

(b) if so, the details of such assistance given under CRF during the last ten years,year-wise and State-wise including Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Bihar;

(c) whether funds were released as per the requests of the State Governments,if not, the reasons for variations therefor;

(d) whether the Government has received any request/proposal for the upgradation of roads from States of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand including upgradation of Thiruvall-Erumely road in Kerala under the same scheme;

(e) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and

(f) the priority accorded to such requests/proposals?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE
MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

(SHRI MANSUKH L. MANDAVIYA)

(a) and (b) The Ministry allocates funds to the States/Union Territories (UTs) for development of State Roads under the Central Road Fund (CRF) scheme as per the provisions of the CRF Act, 2000 amended by the Finance Act from time to time. The fund under CRF is non-lapsable. Apart from this, the Ministry also allocates funds for development of State Roads of Economic Importance and Inter-State Connectivity (EI & ISC) as per the CRF Act, 2000 amended by the Finance Act from time to time.

State/Union Territory (UT)-wise details of accrual/allocation of funds and release/expenditure under CRF and EI & ISC Schemes during the last ten years (i.e. from 2008-09 to 2017-18), including those for the States of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Bihar, are at Annexure-I and Annexure-II respectively.

(c) The funds for development of State roads under CRF scheme are allocated to the States/UTs on the basis of 30 percent weightage to fuel consumption and 70 percent weightage to the geographical area.

For works taken up under CRF scheme, one third of annual accrual/ allocation of the State/ UT is released for utilization against sanctioned works and this amount is maintained as a reserve by replenishing the expenditure from subsequent releases; subsequent releases of funds are made to the States/ UTs based on submission of Utilization Certificates (UCs) of previous releases subject to the condition that the total amount released for any State/ UTs during the year does not exceed the total allocation for that year in respect of that State/ UTand the amount of unspent balance of previous years.

The funds for State Roads under EI & ISC Schemes are allocated keeping in view the committed liabilities, progress of works, inter-se priority, etc. For EI & ISC works, the direct payment procedure applicable for National Highway (NH) works is followed; the funds are released directly to the contractors by the Ministry’s Regional Offices (ROs)/ Engineering Liaisons Offices (ELOs)/ Regional Pay and Accounts Offices (RPAOs) based on the bills received/ processed.

(d) to (f) The proposals submitted by the States / UTs, including those for the State of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Kerala under CRF and EI&ISC schemes are approved in accordance with Central Road Fund (State Roads) Rules, 2014 amended from time to time subject to overall availability of funds and inter-se priority of works.The manner in which the priority of the projects are decided are also governed by the provisions under these Rules.

The proposals not considered for sanction during a financial year are treated as unapproved and not considered as pending.

The State-wise details of proposals received and approved during 2018-19 for development of State Roads for the States of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,Jharkhand and Keralaunder CRF Scheme are at Annexure-III. No proposal have been received from these States under EI & ISC Scheme during 2018-19.

However, the Ministry has not received any proposal for upgradation of Thiruvall-Erumely road in Kerala from the State Government of Kerala under any of these Schemes.