Government Makes Provisions In PMGSY-IV To Hear People’s Voices

By Chanchal Mukherjee

New Delhi: The government has made some provisions in the rules of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)-IV, which will help inhabitants to get development and better connecting roads in the villages according to their requests.

Expressing his views on development in villages, Vikash Yadav, a Sarpanch of Chandu Budhera in Haryana, told ETV Bharat, “If suggestions and requests of villages are considered seriously, then it will definitely help development in villages. Currently, authorities often don’t heed our requests regarding roads or other development works.”

“Better coordination among representatives and authorities will improve overall development in the areas. If villagers request better roads and better connectivity, no doubt it will pave the way for progress and growth of inhabitants,” Yadav said.

Speaking on the issue, Chhavi Rajawat, a former Sarpanch of Soda, Tonk district in Rajasthan, told ETV Bharat, “It will depend on the equation of people representatives whether new provisions will help or not, but it is a fact that the villagers’ requirements should be considered.”

“The main purpose of the gram sabha is to consider the requests of village residents and work as per their requirements. The inhabitants’ voices should be heard as a priority because they get all the impacts in the areas,” she stated.

Amarpal, a resident of a village in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, told ETV Bharat, “To get proper concrete roads and connectivity, we have to approach either public representatives or administration. The area people often contact MP, MLA and Sarpanch for village developments, and these representatives forward our requests to authorities to ensure the works get done.”

“The PMGSY has an inbuilt mechanism for consultation with public representatives at various stages of planning and implementation of the programme. Advisories have been issued and reiterated from time to time to the State governments and State Rural Road Development Agencies, giving emphasis, inter alia, on strict compliance with these provisions. Further, some provisions have been made under the Programme Guidelines of PMGSY-IV,” Minister of State of Rural Development, Kamlesh Paswan said.

“The suggestions of the MPs regarding the eligible habitations should be duly recorded in MP-1 format before submission of proposals to the district Panchayat for approval. This will ensure that the eventual selection of the habitations is comprehensive, and it strengthens the planning and implementation under the programme,” Paswan informed the Lok Sabha.

The states were a few months ago advised that during the survey process of PMGSY-IV, the Project Implementation Units (PIUs) should apprise the Members of Parliament (both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as per the PMGSY norms) regarding the ongoing survey and give due consideration to their suggestions for inclusion of habitations in District Rural Roads Plan (DRRP) and Comprehensive New Connectivity Priority List (CNCPL) as per the eligibility norms of the programme.

Provisions made:

The DRRP is to be updated, and a CNCPL at the Block and District level has to be prepared, based on the survey, and placed before the District Panchayats. Thereafter, proposals have to be approved by District Panchayats. In all these stages, the suggestions and proposals from MPs are to be given due importance.

After the CNCPL is prepared and verified, it will be placed before the district Panchayat. The MPs and MLAs will be given a copy of the CNCPL, and their suggestions and the suggestions of lower-level Panchayati Raj institutions will be given fullest consideration by the district panchayat while giving its approval.

The suggestions of these people representatives regarding the eligible habitations should be duly recorded in MP-1 format before submission of proposals to the district Panchayat for approval, which will ensure that the eventual selection of the habitations is comprehensive and it strengthens the planning and implementation under the programme.

Also Read

Alternate Highway To Kashmir Stalls As Tunnel Project Hits Bureaucratic Hurdle

ETV Bharat Impact: NHAI To Replace Metal Crash Barriers With Concrete Structure