— New Commitment to Build 62,000 Km of Roads in Phase IV: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

New Delhi, 05October (HS): Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, addressing the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Chintan Shivir, urged officials and engineers not to allow the exercise to remain merely a formal “ritual”, but to identify concrete and innovative solutions to practical challenges encountered on the ground. He made it clear that the next phase of PMGSY should focus not merely on conventional road construction, but on “quality connectivity”.

Union Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was addressing the two-day national Chintan Shivir of the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi on Monday. Union Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan, Rural Development Secretary Rohit Kansal, and PMGSY secretaries, chief engineers and experts from all states and Union Territories were present at the event.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that under the fourth phase of PMGSY, a target has been set for the construction of 62,000 kilometres of new roads, of which 20,000 kilometres have already been approved, and the projects must be completed within the stipulated timelines. At the outset of his address, he recalled Mahatma Gandhi’s observation that the road to a developed India runs through the pathways leading to farms and the lanes of villages. He said that unless villages develop, the country’s overall development would remain incomplete. Recalling his childhood, he said that when he had to travel from his village to Bhopal for his studies, he would cover a distance of 13 kilometres on horseback through dirt tracks and muddy paths.

He said, “I have seen with my own eyes the suffering caused by the absence of roads, when pregnant women and critically ill patients had to be carried on cots and sometimes died on the way.” Recalling the famous words of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said the Prime Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana had completely transformed rural life and the rural economy across the country. So far, around 850,000 kilometres of rural roads have been constructed across India. Expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said that under the fourth phase of PMGSY, the target is to construct 62,000 kilometres of new roads, of which 20,000 kilometres have already been approved, and the work must be completed within the prescribed timeframe.

Strict adherence to the 72-day timeline from approval to construction

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took a firm stance on delays in projects and said that a 72-day timeline has been prescribed from the approval of a project to the commencement of construction, but some states have been violating the stipulated timeframe. He directed officials to prepare a complete account of such states. He said the tendering process must be made fully time-bound. Problems such as repeated cancellation of tenders and a lack of bids should be anticipated and addressed through proper “pre-tender planning”, as unnecessary delays increase the cost of construction materials and cause projects to remain stalled.

End the “letter-to-letter” game; pursue forest clearances through personal follow-up

On delays in obtaining forest and environmental clearances, he told officials in clear terms that merely writing formal letters and waiting for a response was not a solution. He said, “There will be no more letter-after-letter game. There must be a sense of urgency about how the work can be expedited.” He directed officials to sit directly with the Environment Department and district collectors and ensure the pending cases were resolved comprehensively. Referring to the challenges posed by changing weather patterns, floods, landslides and excessive rainfall, he said India was a country of enormous geographical diversity and therefore a uniform engineering model, or a “one-size-fits-all” approach, could not be applied to every state and geographical region.

No compromise on quality; negligent agencies to be blacklisted

Taking a firm position on quality control, Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that no compromise whatsoever would be tolerated in construction work. If any agency undertakes substandard construction, it should be blacklisted immediately. He also directed officials to ensure that the same contractor does not re-enter the system by establishing a new company under another name or in the name of a relative. He instructed officials not to restrict themselves to office visits or aerial inspections, but to visit project sites and conduct surprise inspections on the ground.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan said states demonstrating better performance would receive recognition and preference. He appreciated the states that had performed well in various areas. Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan were identified as leading states in terms of quality. Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu performed better in maintenance. Uttar Pradesh has made notable progress in the adoption of new technologies, while Assam has done commendable work in the innovation of QR coding for assets.

Five-year guarantee and “life-cycle management”

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the agency concerned is responsible for maintaining a road for five years after its construction. He said that if small potholes and defects are repaired promptly at the initial stage, roads can remain in good condition for years. He directed that roads in remote and Left Wing Extremism-affected areas of Chhattisgarh, Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh under the PM Janman scheme should be constructed on a war footing, stressing that this was not merely infrastructure development but an act of genuine national service.

He said the core philosophy of PMGSY should be: “Construction to connectivity, connectivity to continuity, and continuity to community.”

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar