Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, March 14: The departmental standing committee on panchayati raj and rural development Saturday recommended that the government enhance the allocation under Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana (MMSY) to Rs 1,000 crore per year.
The proposed allocation of Rs 250 crore for the 2015-16 financial year is quite inadequate, the panel said.
More than Rs 12,000 crore is required for the scheme under which the government plans to complete the roads in 10 years.
“The scheme is proposed to be funded with assistance from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). In view of the financial limitations for sanction of road and bridge projects by Nabard, it should also be funded through the state’s own resources,” the 11 member committee headed by BP Agarawalla suggested in its report presented in the Assembly recently.
MMSY was launched by the state government in 2014-15 with the aim of providing all-weather connectivity to habitations with populations of 499 to 250 in non-Integrated Action Plan (IAP) districts, 249 to 100 in IAP districts and up to 100 in all other habitations not covered under other such schemes.
The panel also recommended that the rural development department formulate a rural development maintenance policy and make a budget provision of Rs 500 crore every year for improvement of roads to Indian Road Congress (IRC) standard.
The House panel also suggested enhancement of the budgetary allocation of state scheme Biju Setu Yojana (BSY). “Rs 150 crore has been allocated under BSY during 2015-16. This seems to be insufficient in view of large numbers of ongoing bridges. So the budgetary allocation of at least Rs 400 crore should be made from state resources instead of Nabard assistance,” the panel said in its report.
The panel also urged the government to move the Centre to increase the funds for Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), allocate Rs 300 crore for construction of high school buildings, cent per cent utilisation of allocated funds and set up of more number of hand pumps and tube wells.