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| Govt. to spent Rs 1,232 cr on road infrastructure plan | | | New Delhi | Mar 1
On the persuasion of the Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Centre has sanctioned 370 road projects for Jammu and Kashmir under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) costing Rs.1175 crore. The projects are expected to cover some 700 rural habitations in the State.
The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting Azad had with the Union Minister for Rural Development, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh here today. The meeting was also attended by the Economic Advisor to Jammu and Government, Dr. Haseeb Drabu, Principal Resident Commissioner, S. V. Bhave, Commissioner/Secretary, Finance, B. B. Vyas, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry for Rural Development and Director General, PMGSY, J. S. Mahapatra and Secretary, R&B, Shailendra Kumar.
The Chief Minister made a strong case for road connectivity in rural Jammu and Kashmir. He said, being a hilly state, the road construction cost was considerably more than in plain areas. He said Jammu and Kashmir had minimum road connectivity compared to other states of the country. He asked for adopting the 90:10 funding pattern in rural development projects in J&K on the lines of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Presently, projects in Rural Development sector are funded on 50:50 basis between the state and the central governments.
While sanctioning the 370 odd road projects, the Union Ministry for Rural Development advised the State government to accord first priority to 1000 plus population unconnected habitations. The State government was also asked to create more Project Implementation Units (PIU) for implementation of PMGSY, as per requirement of the districts, besides, charging service tax at the rate of 4.2% on the projects tendered and allotted by April 1, 2007. In view of the quantum of work, the Ministry suggested that the works should be tendered in three phases.
The Ministry also proposed that the machinery being purchased for implementation of PMGSY be exempted from entry tax in J&K as per the Union Notification.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the annual funds utilization under PMGSY remained at Rs. 10 crore from 2001 to 2006, while it is now Rs. 10 crore per month. The Ministry desired that steps be taken to raise it to Rs. 50 crore per month as there was no dearth of resources in this sector. The Ministry also pointed out the delays in acquisition of forest and private land for PMGSY projects in the State and urged the Chief Minister to address this issue.
The Chief Minister assured Dr. Singh that he would issue necessary instructions to the concerned departments in a meeting next week to be attended by Forest and R&B Ministers and administrative secretaries of concerned departments.
The Union Minister said that additional administrative and program funds would be released to the State in the coming week including for cost overrun schemes of Phase I and II being implemented through rural engineering wing.
Dr. Singh assured the Chief Minister all possible help from his Ministry to implement PMGSY in the State. He said that special specifications have been devised for the projects falling in the areas having frequent snowfall. |
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