BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to cover the Rural Development department under its flagship initiative ‘Mo Sarkar’ from February. Additional Chief Secretary in Rural Development department Pradeep Kumar Jena informed media persons on Wednesday that 4,300 villages are yet to be provided all-weather connectivity. After inclusion of the department under Mo Sarkar, many new roads will be built while several others will be redesigned, he added. Jena said main focus will be to revise the district road network plan that was envisaged in 2003.
The purpose is to connect all the habitations with population of more than a 100 with road, he added. As some of the small habitations were left out in the last survey by the department, steps will be taken for a more comprehensive survey in collaboration with Panchayati Raj, SC & ST Development, Water Resources and Works departments, he added. Stress will also be to build inter-block, inter-district and inter-state road connectivity, Jena said. The State Government had identified 26,579 habitations in 2000, the year Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was launched, for allweather connectivity. However, road connectivity to 20,115 habitations has been provided, so far. As per the online management and monitoring system of Ministry of Rural Development, as many as 6,410 habitations are yet to be connected with pucca roads.
While 1,144 habitations have population of more than 250 but less than 499, the remaining 5,263 habitations have population of less than 250 each. After the launch of 5T, ‘Mo Sarkar’ initiative in May this year several departments, including Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment, Health and Family Welfare, Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare, Transport, Police have come under its ambit. Under the new initiative, the Chief Minister and other ministers talk to common citizens to seek their feedback on the programmes implemented by the Government and service they received.