Short Note : Road construction in Rural India

To improve road connectively in the rural areas of the country, The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana-lll (PMGSY-III). The PMGSY-III aims to consolidate the roads in the rural area which include the Through Routes and Major Rural Links that connect habitations to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals.

What is the PMGSY?

• The PMGSY was launched in December 2000.
• It’s objective is to provide single all-weather road connectivity to eligible unconnected habitation of designated population size (500+ in plain areas and 250+ in North-East, hill, tribal and desert areas as per Census, 2001).
• This will ensure the overall socio-economic development of the areas.
• It has already covered 97% of eligible and feasible habitations by an all-weather road.

Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Area (RCPLWEA)

The Union Government had launched the Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism affected Areas (RCPLWEA) in the year 2016. The RCPLWEA was construed as a separate vertical under the PMGSY to provide all-weather road connectivity in the districts in the left wing affected districts.

Total Road Construction

Under the PMGSY-I, PMGSY-II and RCPLWEA Scheme, a total of 5,99,090 Km road length has been constructed under the scheme since inception till April, 2019.