Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday reviewed the progress of the Rural Development department as a part of his department wise performance review. After the review, RD Minister Preeti Ranjan Ghadai and Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh presented the details of achievement against the promises given in the election manifesto and also highlighted the transformational initiatives taken by the Department.
Addressing in a press meet held at Geeta Govinda Sadan Ghadai said that the Department budget has increased 25 times in comparison to the year 2000-2001. While in 2000-01 the budget was Rs 305 Crores, it increased to Rs 7500 Crores for the year 2023-24. Till date, the Department has constructed 2241 number of bridges under different schemes & another 1304 bridges are at various stages of construction. In the road sector, 1,03,731 kms are maintained by the Department by providing all-weather connectivity to 18161 habitations. Above 10,000 Kms of roads have been constructed using Green Technologies. 8700 rural infrastructure buildings like OAVs, ITIs, College and School buildings, Multipurpose Cyclone Shelters and Health department buildings have been constructed augmenting the building infrastructures in rural areas.
As against the Manifesto (2019-2024), commitments were made for 750 numbers of bridges under BSY, the Department has constructed 679 bridges till date. Total 900 bridges will be constructed by March-2024. Similarly, 6247 kms length of roads have been constructed under MMSY and other State Plan Schemes against the commitment of 3000 km. The Department also targets to construct another 6000 Km under MMSY by March’24 totalling to 12,247km. 27079 kms length of roads have been constructed under PMGSY. The Department targets to construct another 7643 Km under PMGSY by March’24 totalling to 34722 kms.
The Department has augmented the rural infrastructure by constructing 164 numbers of buildings and also targets to construct another 186 numbers by March’24. State has been provided with financial incentive for excellent performance in PMGSY works amounting to Rs.1158 Crores in the last 5 years. The Department has been awarded at National level for construction of maximum road length, construction of roads using Green Technology and giving connectivity to unconnected habitations.
Highlighting the transformational initiatives taken by the department minister said that up to the year 2000, the Department had constructed only 58 bridges. At present, the Department has already constructed 2241 bridges and another 1304 bridges are at various stages of construction. Out of above, 52 bridges constructed over different major rivers Mahanadi, Rushikulya, Brahmani, Baitarani, Tel, Indravati and Jeera with average length of 500 mtrs. The R.D. department is the first department to implement WAMIS for work automation and accounts management which has been adopted by other engineering departments of the State.
In recent years, the standard of R.D. roads is of ODR type with intermediate lane to accommodate higher traffic volume in rural areas. The Department will ensure to make 50,000 kms of rural roads pothole free and improve riding quality by March’2024.RD Department has a vision to construct 1500 new bridges under Biju Setu Yojana (BSY) with an outlay of 6000 cr. in next 5 years which will remarkably increase the rural connectivity network. Under Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana (MMSY), 15000 kms of roads shall be constructed with an expenditure of Rs 12,000 crore.
Sanjay Kumar Singh, Principal Secretary, RD Department answered various questions of journalists relating to different schemes undertaken by RD Department. A documentary on achievement of RD Departments was presented on the occasion.
