The Orissa government has incurred an expenditure of Rs 551.50 crore till the end of August this year on various road projects under the Centrally sponsored Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in the five districts of the state affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE).
The five LWE affected districts are Deogarh, Gajapati, Malkangiri, Rayagada and Sambalpur. It may be noted that the Centre has sanctioned Rs 1089.78 crore for undertaking road projects in these five districts.
The state government has incurred an expenditure of Rs 65.83 crore on these road projects in Deogarh district, Rs 81.20 crore in Gajapati district, Rs 47.28 crore in Malkangiri district, Rs 186.94 crore in Rayagada district and Rs 170.22 crore in Sambalpur district.
"The Centre had sanctioned 734 road projects for the five LWE districts of Orissa and we have so far completed 369 projects. Out of the sanctioned road length network of 3471.08 km in these five districts, the state government has achieved a road network of 1563.24 km”, said an official source.
The state government has completed 36 out of 40 road projects in Deogarh district, 137 out of 188 road projects in Sambalpur district, 74 out of 152 projects in Gajapati district and 95 out of 210 sanctioned road projects in Rayagada district. However, the progress of the road projects under PMGSY has been dismal in Malkangiri district where only 27 out of sanctioned road projects have been completed so far.
Out of the total road network of1563.24 km achieved in the five districts under the PMGSY, the longest road network of 543.13 km has been laid in Sambalpur district, followed by 495.11 km in Rayagada district, 206.90 km in Deogarh district, 186.30 km in Gajapati district and 131.80 km in Malkangiri district.