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Remote areas of Kalakote in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir are getting roads for the first time since Independence under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).
Imtiyaz Meer, a senior official associated with the PMGSY project, said a lot of time is being saved and the life of people is getting easy due to the construction of roads under the scheme. "Where people had to walk for two days to reach for their destinations, now a lot of time is being saved due to the construction of roads," he said. The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY-I) was launched in 2000 as a one-time special intervention to provide rural connectivity, by way of a single all-weather road, to the eligible unconnected habitations of designated population as per Census 2001. In 2013, PMGSY-II was launched for upgradation of selected through Routes and Major Rural Links (MRLs) with a target to upgrade 50,000 km in various states and union territories. Subsequently, in 2016, Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (RCPLWEA) was launched for construction and upgradation of strategically important roads, as a separate vertical under PMGSY to improve the road connectivity in 44 worst affected LWE districts and some adjoining districts in nine states. In 2019, Government launched PMGSY-III for consolidation of 1,25,000 km Through Routes and Major Rural Links connecting habitations, inter-alia, to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), higher secondary schools and hospitals. Since inception till July this year, a total of 1,84,056 roads of 7,93,568 km and 10,082 bridges were sanctioned under various interventions and verticals of PMGSY, out of which, 1,70,857 roads of 7,12,638 km and 7,264 bridges were completed. (ANI)
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