To further improve the connectivity of villages with hospitals, schools and markets, Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Wednesday launched the third phase of the government's rural road programme to widen and revamp 1.25-lakh km of roads.
As on December 16, 2019, more than six lakh km of rural roads have been completed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) connecting 97.27 of the habitations in the country, the minister said, according to an official statement.
Of the total, a road length of 36,063 km has been constructed using green technologies, a major portion of which includes waste plastic and cold mix technology, he said.
Launching the third phase of PMGSY on sidelines of a workshop on the rural road scheme here, Tomar said the third edition aims at consolidation of 1.25 lakh km of roads through routes and major rural links that connect habitations to gramin agricultural markets, higher secondary schools and hospitals.
The estimated cost of the third phase is Rs 80,250 crore, including the Centre's share of Rs 53,800 crore for the period 2019-20 to 2024-25, he said.
The funding pattern for the PMGSY-III will be 60:40 between the Centre and States. For northeastern and Himalayan states, the ratio will be 90:10.
This phase of the PMGSY will facilitate easy and faster movement to and from agricultural markets, schools and hospitals.
PMGSY was launched in December, 2000 with an objective to provide single all-weather road connectivity to eligible unconnected habitation of designated population size of more than 500 in plain areas and 250 in northeast, hill, tribal and desert areas as per census of 2001.
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