Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat seeks funds from Centre to expedite PMGSY projects

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat today said he had sought funds and clearance of pending DPRs from the Centre to provide fresh impetus to road construction projects in rural areas under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

"If the DPRs are cleared and funds allocated without delay, we shall build roads under PMGSY at the speed of three Km per day which will be a record in itself," Rawat told reporters here.

Expressing deep concern over the Centre not "sanctioning" projects for Uttarakhand, Rawat said it has not approved any project since February 2014.

A total of 127 DPRs (Detail Project Reports) under PMGSY worth Rs 760 core have been sent to the Centre, already whose clearance is awaited and 52 fresh DPRs worth Rs 314 crore will soon be sent, the Chief Minister said.

He also urged the Union Minister to sanction new projects and DPRs, pending before the Centre, for providing connectivity to remote habitations.

In a letter to Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh, Rawat sought funds under three different heads including reimbursement of Rs 142.72 crore spent by the state government in 2014-15 in excess of central allocations to pace up execution of development projects in rural areas, release of Rs 61. 61 crore already sanctioned for restoration of disaster-hit PMGSY roads and increase of indicative annual allocation from Rs 413 crore to Rs 550 crore for 2015-16, besides early release of balance fund.

Asking the Union Minister to prioritise clearance of DPRs, he said the process needs to begin soon keeping in mind the genuine need of the people and also the fact that forest/civil land transfer has been ensured for various projects.