CHENNAI: To improve road connectivity in rural areas, particularly in habitations of SCs and hilly regions, the government has decided to develop 2,500 km road at a cost of Rs 536.75 crore. According to a recent order, single-layer Water Bound Macadam Road will be laid for 2,500 km in rural areas, of which, 1,350 km will be in SC habitations, in the financial year 2020-21.
The road laying cost for a km is estimated at Rs 21.47 lakh. The move is expected to ease hurdles in transporting agriculture products, thereby boosting local economy. "The construction involves laying foundation, filling huge pits and potholes and straightening curves," a senior official said.
The Centre has granted approval to carry out the roadlaying works under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, and also agreed to bear the expense of labourers' salary (Rs 83.30 crore). The Centre will fund about 75 per cent of expenses towards material component of Rs 340.09 crore and the State will contribute Rs 113.36 crore.
The government released a set of guidelines for Project Directors of District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) to identify the villages. The Project Director of DRDA should prioritise and prepare the list of SC habitations to be covered under this scheme based on descending order of SC population in the district.
The government said "Atrocity prone villages" identified by Addl DGP (Social Justice and Human Rights) should compulsorily be taken up, irrespective of the population. Only after exhausting the requirement of atrocity-prone villages in the blocks of the districts, works in other Adi Dravidar habitations should be undertaken, based on descending order of population, added the order.
To use State's report to identify villages
The DRDA should use the Tamil Nadu Village Habitations Improvement report as basic data for choosing the villages