Government okays Rs 11,000 crore road projects for Left-wing hit areas

NEW DELHI: The government has approved an over Rs 11,000-crore project to construct all-weather roads and improve connectivity for security reasons in nearly 40 districts worst hit by the Left-wing extremism and violence.

Approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the ' Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas' will provide connectivity in 35 worst affected LWE districts - which account for 90 per cent of total LWE violence in the country - and 9 adjoining districts, critical from security angle.

To be implemented as a vertical under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, more than 5,400 kilometres of road would be constructed/upgraded and 126 bridges/cross drainage works would be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 11,724.53 crore.

The roads will be operable through the year, irrespective of weather conditions.

The fund sharing for the LWE road project will be same as the PMGSY - in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and states for all states except for North Eastern and three Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10.

Finance Ministry will allocate Rs 7,034.72 crore to the Ministry of Rural Development for the project during the implementation period 2016-17 to 2019-20.

Ministry of Rural Development will be the responsible for sponsoring and implementing the project.

The roads taken up under the scheme would include Other District Roads (ODRs), Village Roads (VRs) and upgrading of the existing Major District Roads (MDRs), that are critical from the security point of view.

Bridges up to a span of 100 metres, critical from security angle, would also be funded on these roads. National and state highways have been excluded from the project.

The roads to be constructed under the scheme have been identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with the state governments and security agencies.

PMGSY was launched in 2000 as a centrally-sponsored scheme with the objective to provide all-weather road connectivity to all eligible unconnected habitations in the rural areas.