Big plan for better rural roads drawn

Singh said the ambitious plan would stress on ‘‘all-weather road connectivity’’, and while the initial estimates indicated a requirement of Rs 60,000 crore for covering 1.6 lakh eligible habitations, the revised estimates indicate Rs 1,33,000 crore would be needed. To meet this financial burden, Singh said he has held successful talks with domestic as well as international funding agencies.

‘‘The World Bank has sanctioned $400 million, the Asian Development Bank another $400 million, apart from borrowings from LIC, NABARD, CPWD etc. State governments are also encouraged to leverage their allocation under the PMGSY. We will also get Rs 20,000 crore as part of our share of the diesel cess, of the 50 paise per litre imposed on the fuel, from the Central Road Fund up to the end of the 10th Plan.’’

The Rural Development Ministry has also sought an additional Rs 1,500 crore from the Finance Ministry exclusively for upgradation of rural roads, Singh said.

Meanwhile, giving reasons for his proposal to distribute one lakh milch cows to Dalits in Bihar, Singh insisted the move would not involve extra expenditure, and said he was only maximising the use of funds already earmarked for SCs for creating income-generating schemes.

According to Singh, very few from the SC category benefit from the dairy business mostly because their cows are locally bred.

It was found that under the Sampoorna Gramin Rojgar Yojana (SGRY), 20 per cent of funds is given to the Zila Parishad and 30 per cent to block panchayats. Out of this, 22.5 per cent is earmarked for Dalits, for creating income-generating schemes, which works out to Rs 12,000 per family.

Said Singh, ‘‘Since this scheme is fully subsidised as the cross-bred milch cows cost around Rs 12,000, all potential problems of corruption in getting loans, identifying and making lists of SCs, do not exist as it is already in the books of the local administration.’’