Gramin Sadak Yojana: West Bengal to redevelop 10 year old roads

The Department of Panchayats and Rural Development Government of West Bengal is preparing to launch the third phase of the Gramin Sadak Yojana, to strengthen and widen rural roads built at least ten years ago. Aside from completing the remaining work on the first two phases of the project, the state government has begun planning for the third phase, which aims to strengthen and widen 1,000 km of road with a width of up to 5.5 m. The construction of these roads and the payment of the residual work will cost around Rs 2,365 crore. This follows the successful completion of the major portion of phase 1 and 2 of the same project, which saw 25,190 km of rural roads built in Bengal between May 2011 and March. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched the Banglar Gramin Sadak Yojana (BGSY), and Pathasree Abhiyan, a rural road development programme, will be launched at the end of 2021. Simultaneously, small bridges (maximum of 75 to 80 metres long) would be built in the stretch that would be widened or strengthened if necessary. Despite the lockdown, approximately Rs 1,516 crore and Rs 1,465 crore were spent on rural road improvement in the fiscal years 2019-20 and 2020-21, respectively. The programme resulted in the construction of 2,180 km of new roads in the state, which is the highest achievement against budget in the country. In FY21, an additional 2,179 kilometres of new roads were built. The state is now eligible for BGSY-III after BGSY-II awarding was completed and BGSY-I had completed more than 95%. The Centre contributed Rs 881 crore in 2020-21, while the state contributed Rs 587.33 crore. The Centre awarded a special incentive grant of Rs 88.31 crore for outstanding performance in rural road construction. Image Source Also read: BMC to redevelop and beautify Saat Rasta in central Mumbai