Maharashtra Cabinet approves scheme to provide motorable roads for farmers’ connectivity between fields and villages

The Maharashtra Cabinet Sunday approved the ambitious ‘Mukhyamantri Baliraja Shet-Pandan Rasta Yojana’, a scheme that will ensure all-weather, motorable farm-to-field roads across rural Maharashtra by permitting 100 per cent mechanised construction.

The main objective of the scheme is to enhance connectivity between farmers’ fields and villages, and remove bottlenecks in the transportation of agricultural produce. It aims to provide affordable and accessible transportation to farmers, making it easier for them to reach the markets.

The scheme is expected to remove long-standing hurdles faced under the earlier Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) framework.

Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who also heads the monitoring committee for the scheme, said, “For decades, farmers have struggled with muddy, broken approach roads that become unusable during the monsoon. This revolutionary scheme will ensure durable roads right up to every farm, enabling timely sowing, smooth harvesting and quick transport of produce to markets.”