Bhubaneswar: The state government has no plans to take up new projects under the Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana (MMSY) this year.
Sources in the rural development department said the state government has no specific plan this year to take up new projects under MMSY—the ambitious scheme of the BJD government to develop road infrastructure in rural villages that are not covered under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
The state government had decided to take up 1638.31km stretch roadwork under MMSY in all districts in 2015-16 fiscal. Besides, the rural development department had decided to take up altogether 417 different road projects under the scheme. However, lack of monitoring led to poor implementation of the projects.
It was also came to government notice that many tenders under this scheme received at substantial low rate even to the extent of nearly 15 percent less.” Following this the state government decided to conduct Third Party Quality Monitoring (TPQM) of the projects.
Likewise, poor funding has also remained a concern in taking up new projects. The budget estimation for this scheme in the previous fiscal was `95, 108 lakh. However, this fiscal focusing on Rural development in its annual budget 2016-17 though the state government had stated that `2300crore outlay has been prepared for the PMGSY to take up 3200km roads in rural villages with a state share of 40 per cent, it had not specifically mentioned the budget provision for MMSY and had said that “the MMSY will be implemented with NABARD aid in areas not covered under PMGSY.”
The move of the department has invited criticisms as the rural development minister Badri Narayan Patra has admitted in the recently concluded Assembly session that over 15,000 villages in the state are yet to be connected with roads. The ruling party, in its election manifesto in the last election, had announced the scheme under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF).
Though the minster couldn’t be reached for his comments, a senior official of the department said new projects are unlikely to be taken up as the state government has already prepared DPR last year and accordingly the previously approved project works will be taken up.
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