Opposition, BJP members question Union Minister on Bihar rural roads

Union Minister of State for Rural Development Ram Kripal Yadav on Thursday faced a barrage of questions from members of both his BJP and opposition parties from Bihar on the "delay" in the construction of all-weather roads in rural areas of Bihar.

Former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who is Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Saran, questioned Yadav on his reply regarding the approval of Phase II of the rural roads project under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

Rudy questioned how could the project be approved when even the documentation for the second phase had not yet started in Bihar. Yadav clarified that he didn't make the statement vis-a-vis Bihar.

Replying during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Yadav said that many habitations in Bihar have been connected with all-weather roads and that the remaining work will be completed in 2019.

Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines Narendra Singh Tomar told the house that shortage of land is a big issue in Bihar and around 544 habitations have not been connected with rural roads under the PMGSY.

"As reported by the Bihar government, out of 10,011 road works, with 38,988.50 km length approved till March, 2013, 9,467 road works with total length of 35,536.43 km have been completed," Tomar said in a written reply.

"All eligible unconnected habitations as per the core network in Bihar under the PMGSY-I have been sanctioned road connectivity by the Ministry of Rural Development. The government of India has taken a decision to accelerate the execution of PMGSY in all states, including Bihar, by providing connectivity to eligible habitations as per the Core Network of PMGSY by March 2019 and in the LWE (Left-Wing Extremism) blocks by 2020," the Minister added.

--IANS

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