Restoring Rural Roads

Linking villages to nearby mandis for boosting the economy, rural roads in the country have been getting the much-needed impetus by the government to enable a growth in their length and connect to the inseams of the country, explores EPC World

The Bihar government has now decided to use plastic waste for the construction of roads in rural areas. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who conducted a review meeting of the Rural Works Department recently, asked officials to maximize the use of plastic waste in the construction of rural roads, and at the same time ensure that the quality of roads is not affected. Plastic waste is also being used across other parts of the country to bolster the construction of rural roads. Recently, Noida Authority too had decided to construct a road in the city using plastic following the examples of Lucknow, Pune, Chennai, Jamshedpur and Indore.

The Centre has asked states to use plastics in at least 10 per cent of its roads, and had made it mandatory for all road developers in the country to use plastic waste for road construction after Rajagopalan Vasudevan, a professor from Madurai’s Thiagarajar College of Engineering, suggested process of building roads with use of recycled plastic waste. Rural road projects in the country have been gathering momentum with the government bestowing special focus on the sector.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi recently gave a major boost to rural road connectivity across the country as the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister himself, gave its approval for the launch of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana-lll (PMGSY-III). The scheme involves consolidation of Through Routes and Major Rural Links connecting habitations to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals.

PMGSY-III scheme was announced by the Finance Minister in Budget Speech for the year 2018-19. The CCEA in its meeting held on 9th August, 2018 approved continuation of PMGSY-I & II beyond 12th Five Year Plan and covering of balance eligible habitations under PMGSY-I by March 2019, PMGSY-II, and habitations under identified LWE blocks (100-249 population) by March 2020.