Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is committed to the socio-economic development of the people of the State, especially those residing in rural Odisha through the construction of all-weather roads and bridges thus enhancing economic condition and holistic development of rural people, said Minister Rural Development Pritiranjan Gharei.
Rural Development Department is providing better all-weather connectivity to the unconnected habitations in rural areas by constructing roads and bridges under the State-sponsored flagship programme like Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana (MMSY) and Biju Setu Yojana (BSY), Gharei added.
Addressing the media at Geeta Gobinda Sadan today the Minister said that the Department’s budgetary allocation this year has been enhanced to Rs 7500 crore, which is a hike of 35.57% over the budget of 2019-20.
Till date, the Department has already constructed 1254 bridges under BSY and another 900 bridges are in different stages of execution. During 2023-24, it is programmed to construct 526 new bridges with an outlay of Rs 1900.00 crore.
In order to recharge groundwater and instream storage of flowing water, the Department envisages constructing 100 Bridge-cum-weir projects with an outlay of Rs 50.00 crore. Till date, 32 nos. of instream structures have been completed.
Similarly, under the road sector, 6000 Kms of roads has been planned to construct with a budget provision of Rs.2061.00 Crore under the flagship scheme MMSY, MMSY-Improvement of existing RD roads, MMSY-Transferred Roads Improvement Programme (TRIP), MMSY Connection of Missing Road Links (CMRL), MMSY-Connection of Unconnected Villages in Difficult Areas (CUVDA), which shall definitely improve the rural road network, which includes upgradation and widening of rural roads to ODR standard. Till date, the Department has already constructed 10,621 km of roads under MMSY.
The major thrust is given to construct 200 km in difficult LWE-affected areas, Swabhiman Anchal of Malkangiri District and other missing links.
Sanjay Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, RD Department, said that Government is giving emphasis on the maintenance of rural roads for which a budget provision of Rs 1158.79 crore has been made to ensure pothole-free and improve riding quality of 50,000 km of roads during 2023-24, which is a significant increase of about 25,000 km of roads than the previous year.
Apart from that, the Government is committed to providing all-weather connectivity by constructing 15,000 Km of rural roads under MMSY with an investment of over Rs 12,000 crore and 1500 new bridges with an approximate investment of over Rs 6000 crore under Biju Setu Yojana in the next 5 years.
While Indramani Tripathy, Director, I&PR Department coordinated the presser, Arvind Agrawal, Director, RD along with other senior officials from RD Department were present.
