Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 8: Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah today said that PMGSY has made significant difference in improving road connectivity across the State and with the recent approval for 1100 more projects to cover remaining left out habitations, the road network scenario will see further improvement especially in districts with relatively low connectivity percentage.
The Chief Minister said this while reviewing physical and financial progress under PMGSY in a meeting here. He said before inception of PMGSY the level of connectivity across the state stood at 58% which has improved to 73%.
Earlier, Commissioner Secretary, R&B, Tanveer Jehan gave a detailed power point presentation on the status of PMGSY in the State. She said that out of the 1985 schemes under Phase-1 to Phase-IX, 872 schemes have been completed, covering road length of 4900kms at a cost of Rs. 2346 crore.
She said out of the 4163 un-connected habitations at the time of inception of PMGSY as many as 1487 habitations have already been connected up to Phase-IX and the remaining have been taken up for completion.
She said that out of the target of covering 175 habitations during 2013-14, as many as 107 habitations covering road length of 604 kms have been completed ending October. She said Rs. 326 crore have been spent on these projects so far.
She further informed that Rs. 223 crore, out of the amount of Rs. 710 crore approved by the Union Cabinet on account of land, forest and structural compensation, have been released recently. She said various measures for effective implementation of the programme have been taken up including fast tracking land acquisition and forest clearance issues, resulting in accelerated pace of progress.
She said action has also been taken in 44 cases against the defaulting contractors and an amount of Rs. 2.93 crore has been recovered from these defaulting agencies besides terminating their contracts and re-tendering them for re-allotment to other agencies.
Minister for Rural Development, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Minister for Planning and Development, Ajay Kumar Sadhotra, Minister for R&B, Abdul Majid Wani, Minister of State for Revenue, Ajaz Ahmad Khan, Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, B.B. Vyas, Commissioner Secretaries and other officers were present in the meeting.
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