New Delhi: The Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, and Drinking Water & Sanitation, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today said that Transparency and Speedy execution of works are the new mantras of the NDA government, where through a multi-layered monitoring mechanism including space technology, results are achieved in a time-bound manner. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi today, he said that Rural Development and Swachh Bharat Mission are the key focus areas of the Government that is well reflected in the enhanced allocation of resources in the General Budget 2017. Referring to MGNREGA, he said that Rs 48,000 Crore has been allocated for the rural job scheme, which is the highest ever allocation and due to renewed focus on the scheme and demand for more work, additional resources will be mobilized in the near future.
Shri Tomar informed that Government is also working on a proposal to provide additional Rs 42,000 crore of bank credit to Self Help Groups (SHGs) for the empowerment of women in the rural areas. He said, more than Rs 93,000 crore of credit was already mobilized by the banks this year for nearly 30 lakh SHGs working in the country having an enrolment of nearly 3 crore rural women.
On the issue of rural housing, the Minister said that by December this year about 44 lakh houses would be built under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana, PMAY. He said, in the current financial year, on 20th November, 2016, the Prime Minister formally launched Pradhan Mantri AwaasYojana (Gramin) – PMAY (G), with an original approval for 33 lakhs new PMAY Gramin houses, which has now been increased to 44 lakhs. The Department of Rural Development was given a target to complete 33 lakh houses in 2016-17. These included houses that were taken up under the Indira AwaasYojana (IAY) and were incomplete on 1st April 2016. Many of them were incomplete for many years. Of these, 21.57 lakh houses have been completed so far. This is nearly double of what was being completed each year in the 2012-13 to 2014-15 period.
On Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, PMGSY, out of the targeted 48,812 kilometres of rural roads this year, about 36,000 kilometres have been completed till date and by the end of this fiscal, it is estimated that about 52, 000 kilometres of roads would be built as the pace of construction of roads gathers pace in the month of February and March exceeding the targeted 133 Kms per day of Rural Roads construction. Use of Clean and Green Technology and Space technology is being made exceedingly to increase the pace of rural roads constructions.
On the issue of safe drinking water, Shri Tomar informed that the Prime Minister has earmarked Rs 25,000 crores to complete this mission within 4 years out of which Rs. 12500 crores will be the contribution by the central government. He said, while West Bengal suffers the problem of arsenic in some blocks, Rajasthan has the problem of fluoride in the drinking water.
On the issue of Swachh Bharat Mission, the Minister said that it has now become a people’s revolution and the government has also enhanced budgetary allocation to achieve the goal of cleanliness in a time-bound manner. He said that sanitation coverage in the country has increased from 42 percent to more than 60 percent since this government came into power. So far, 91 districts and 909 blocks and more than one lakh and fifty seven thousand gram panchayats have been declared Open Defecation Free, ODF which is a big achievement in the current year. ‘Swachh App’ monitors and records the developments all over the country and people can even use the App for ranking the Swachhta in their blocks and villages.
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