J&K, Ladakh’s villages to benefit
NEW DELHI, Apr 4:
The second phase of Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP), which envisages comprehensive development of select villages located along international borders, has been approved by the Union Cabinet, the Government announced on Friday.
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The Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Vibrant Villages Programme-II (VVP-II) as a central sector scheme with 100 per cent funding by the Centre, furthering its commitment for the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047 for ‘Safe, Secured & Vibrant land borders’, an official statement said.
The programme would help in the comprehensive development of the villages located in the blocks abutting international land borders (ILBs), other than the northern border already covered under VVP-I.
The objective of the programme is to create better living conditions and adequate livelihood opportunities to ensure prosperous and safe borders, control trans-border crime and assimilate the border population with the nation and inculcate them ‘as eyes and ears of the border guarding forces’, crucial for internal security.
With a total outlay of Rs 6,839 crore, the programme shall be implemented in select strategic villages in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal till 2028-29, the statement said.
The programme shall provide funds for infrastructure development within the village or a cluster of villages, value chain development through cooperatives, SHGs, etc, border specific outreach activity, education infrastructure like SMART classes, development of tourism circuits and projects to create diverse and sustainable livelihood opportunities in the border areas.
The interventions would be border-specific, state and village specific, based on village action plans prepared in a collaborative approach.
All-weather road connectivity for these villages shall be undertaken under the already approved Rural connectivity under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY-IV) under the Ministry of Rural Development.
A high-powered committee chaired by the Cabinet Secretary shall consider suitable relaxations in schematic guidelines for effective implementation of schemes in the border areas.
The programme aims to achieve saturation in existing individual and household level welfare schemes in the identified villages under convergence as per scheme norms.
The programme also aims to saturate all villages in such blocks in 4 thematic areas, namely all-weather road connectivity, telecom connectivity, television connectivity and electrification through convergence under existing scheme norms.
The programme emphasises enhancing vibrancy in these villages by organising activities including fairs & festivals, awareness camps, celebration of national days, regular visits by ministers, senior Government officers from Central and State/Union Territory Government and night stays in such villages.
This would boost the tourism potential and promote the local culture and heritage of these villages.
Technology would be leveraged and information databases like PM Gati Shakti shall be used for effective implementation of the project.
The VVP-II along with VVP-I is a transformative initiative to make the border villages self-reliant and vibrant, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday approved four projects of the Ministry of Railways involving a total cost of about Rs 18,658 crore, a Government press note said.
The four projects covering 15 districts in 3 States of Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 1,247 km, it added.
The four projects include the third and fourth lines between Sambalpur and Jarapda, and Jharsuguda and Sason; the fifth and sixth lines between Kharsia-Naya Raipur and Parmalkasa; and the doubling of line between Gondia and Balharshah.
“The enhanced line capacity will improve mobility, providing enhanced efficiency and service reliability for Indian Railways. These multi-tracking proposals will ease operations and reduce congestion, providing the much-required infrastructural development on the busiest sections across Indian Railways,” the press note said. (PTI)
It added, “The projects are in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of a New India which will make people of the region ‘Atmanirbhar’ by way of comprehensive development in the area which will enhance their employment/ self-employment opportunities.”
According to the Government, these projects are the result of the PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan for multi-modal connectivity which was made possible through integrated planning to provide seamless connectivity for movement of people, goods and services.
Highlighting their benefits, the Government said with these projects, 19 new stations will be constructed, enhancing connectivity to two aspirational districts such as Gadchiroli and Rajnandgaon besides enhancing connectivity to approximately 3,350 villages and about 47.25 lakh population.
“Kharsia-Naya Raipur-Parmalkasa will provide direct connectivity to new areas such as Baloda Bazar, this will create possibilities for setting up of new industrial units including cement plants in the region,” the press note said.
It further said, “These are essential routes for the transportation of commodities such as agriculture products, fertiliser, coal, iron ore, steel, cement, limestone etc. The capacity augmentation works will result in additional freight traffic of magnitude 88.77 MTPA (million tonnes per annum).”
Talking about its environmental benefits, the Government said the Railways being an environment-friendly and energy-efficient mode of transportation, it will help both in achieving climate goals and minimising logistics cost of the country, reducing oil import (95 crore litres) and lowering CO2 emissions (477 crore kg), which is equivalent to planting 19 crore trees. (PTI)
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