Hyderabad, June 25: The state government would spend Rs 1,500 crore over the next three years to ensure rural road connectivity to thousands of scheduled
caste colonies and tribal hamlets across the state.
Addressing a joint press conference, panchayat raj minister B Satyanarayana and rural development minister V Vasant Kumar on Tuesday said both the departments would act in a cohesive manner to achieve 100 per cent success in the implementation of the programme.
They said that the permanent rural road connectivity programme would be inter-linked with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and taken up in a big way in the interior areas, as rural connectivity works were permissible under the list of works allowed to be taken up under Schedule I of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
Both the panchayat raj department and Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) have been entrusted with the responsibility of coming up with a blue print for laying all-weather roads in scheduled caste and scheduled tribe colonies. Nearly 7,500 villages would be covered each year under the proposed works, which would be taken up in a phased manner by spending Rs 15-20 lakh on each of the colonies, the ministers said.
“The objective is to supplement wage employment opportunities in rural areas and also create durable assets. We are not only ensuring rural connectivity, but also creating assets by maintaining the NREGA guideline of 60:40 ratio of wages and material,” the rural development minister said.
He said information regarding taking up of rural road works would be widely publicised, especially in remote areas, SC/ST hamlets, through multi-media forms so that wage-employment opportunities were created for people in interior regions. “The sense of involvement is very high among rural populace, hence the participatory approach,” he added.
The ministers were speaking after holding a state-level video conference with officials on strengthening local bodies and ensuring foolproof implementation of all welfare measures being taken up under the rural development, especially effective implementation of NREGS. The Centre has earmarked Rs 5,500 crore funds under NREGS this year for the state, they said.
The rural development minister said they were closely evaluating the poor response to NREGS in the delta region and would take up remedial measures to link up development works with the scheme so that people get employment.
The panchayat raj minister said all MPDOs have been directed to ensure proper implementation of NREGS works. He said an elaborate exercise was underway to reorganise departments with emphasis on performance-linked reviews for officials.
—Agencies