PMGSY topper Odisha falls behind target in road work

Setting month-wise target for the last quarter of this fiscal, the State had planned to construct 1,190 km, 1,428 km and 2,630 km in January, February and March.

BHUBANESWAR: Way behind in its target of rural road construction under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the State Government has assured the Centre to complete 6,689 km of road against its annual target of 8,200 km by the end of current fiscal.

As the State topped the list at the national-level in rural road construction in 2018-19 by completing 8,151 km against the annual target of 8,000 km, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) gave the highest target for 2019-20.

A recent review of the progress of implementation of PMGSY programme in five States, including Odisha, by MoRD showed that the State has been able to construct 1441.84 km of road by third quarter of the current fiscal, ending December 31, 2019.

However, the online management, monitoring and accounting system (OMMAS) of the Ministry showed that the State has completed construction of 2508.86 km as on Tuesday providing all-weather connectivity to 146 habitations.

Though the State had requested the Centre to reduce the annual target for the current fiscal to 8,059 km from 8,200 km, its revised plan submitted to MoRD said only 5,248 km of road could be completed by March 2020.

Setting month-wise target for the last quarter of this fiscal, the State had planned to construct 1,190 km, 1,428 km and 2,630 km in January, February and March.

According to the review, the State has balance length of 7,205 km (2,213 roads and 273 bridges) against the sanctioned length of 65,827 km. Of this, over 625 km road including 36 bridges remained incomplete for more than four years.

“Around 204 km of this incomplete work will be completed by March this year. We have planned to drop 34 road works and proposal for seven road works have been submitted to MoRD for exclusion,” said a senior officer of Rural Development department.

The State is also lagging in providing road connectivity in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE). Only 186 km of road has been constructed in two LWE affected districts of Koraput and Malkangiri against a target of 485.85 km.

Attributing the delay in construction of rural roads to simultaneous elections - Assembly and Lok Sabha, the sources said construction picked up after June but the progress slowed down due to monsoon followed by cyclone Bulbul.

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