Plans to boost bus, road connectivity

Plans to boost bus, road connectivity

The government on Tuesday placed emphasis on improving connectivity across rural and urban areas, improving quality and supply of drinking water and an overall improvement of the local administration systems as part of its announcements of the annual Budget for 2013-14. The announcements, which are part of the agenda of the Municipal Administration & Water Supply Department and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, were made in the Assembly.

The new proposals placed definitive stress on increasing and improving connectivity in both rural and semi-urban areas, through the construction and upgradation of bus terminuses and road networks.

A total of 18 new bus terminuses and expansion of 11 existing ones were announced by Municipal Administration, Rural Development, Law Courts and Prisons Minister K P Munusamy. He also announced that 9,235 km of unmetalled roads coming under panchayats and panchayat unions would be converted to bitumen topped ones during the current financial year. Munusamy also announced a number of projects aimed at improving the water supply across the State. A plan for maintenance work on ageing infrastructure of the Combined Water Supply Scheme worth Rs 58.44 crore, the extension of piped water supply to 6,000 rural habitations worth Rs 1190.72 crore and a system to enable real time monitoring of water quality were among the measures the government would take in the current year, said Munusamy.

The government has also expressed its intention to set up a high level committee to review the classification of panchayats based on their population, annual revenue and proximity to urban centres.

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