Lok Sabha Question No. 1152 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-11
Subject: Rural Road Safety and Connectivity under PMGSY in Tamil Nadu
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Thiru Dr. S Jagathratchakan, Shri Tharaniventhan M S

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1152 ANSWERED ON 11/02/2025

Rural Road Safety And Connectivity Under PMGSY In Tamil Nadu

## 1152. SHRI S JAGATHRATCHAKAN: SHRI THARANIVENTHAN M S:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the  current  status  of  the  Pradhan  Mantri  Gram  SadakYojana (PMGSY), including the total number of roads constructed and upgraded  so far during the last five years within Arani Constituency of Tamil Nadu;
- (b) the total funds allocated and utilized under the scheme within Tamil Nadu, and the progress made in the last financial year along with the steps being taken to ensure timely completion of ongoing projects;
- (c) the  challenges  faced  in  the  implementation  of  the  scheme, particularly in  remote and rural areas and the steps taken to further expand the scope of PMGSY in the coming years;
- (d) the progress made in improving rural road connectivity in Tamil Nadu under the Pradhan Mantri Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY) in the last five years;
- (e) the  specific  challenges  faced  in  ensuring  the  quality  and maintenance  of  roads  constructed  under  PMGSY  in  Tamil Nadu, including the impact on rural road safety;
- (f) the budgetary allocations and funding strategies implemented to overcome  funding constraints for the completion and maintenance of rural roads under PMGSY in Tamil Nadu; and
- (g) the effectiveness of recent developments, such as Phase IV of PMGSY, in improving lastmile connectivity and safety in rural roads?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)

(a):         A  total  of  8,28,800  Km  road  length  has  been  sanctioned under various ongoing interventions/verticals of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), out of which 7,72,216   Km  road  length  has  already  been  completed  and  39,075 Km road length are at various stages of execution. The intervention/vertical wise physical achievement status under PMGSY since inception till 06.02.2025 are given below:

(Road length in Km)

| Name of               | Sanctioned   | Completed   | Balance*   |
|-----------------------|--------------|-------------|------------|
| intervention/vertical |              |             |            |
| PMGSY-I               | 6,44,867     | 6,24,647    | 4,457      |
| PMGSY-II              | 49,795       | 49,038      | 214        |
| RCPLWEA               | 12,228       | 9,374       | 2,751      |
| PMGSY III             | 1,21,910     | 89,157      | 31,653     |
| Total:                | 8,28,800     | 7,72,216    | 39,075     |

*Balance road length is less than the difference of sanctioned and completed  length  due  to  the  reasons  that  some  projects  were completed with less than the sanctioned length due to reduction in road  length,  change  in  alignment,  construction  of  part  length  by other agencies, etc.

Constituency-wise data is not maintained in the Ministry.  However, as  per  district  wise  data  available,  the  total  number  of  roads sanctioned and completed so far under PMGSY during the last five years, in Tiruvannamalai district of Tamil Nadu is given as under:

| Financial Year   |   Number of Roads Sanctioned |   Number of Roads Completed |
|------------------|------------------------------|-----------------------------|
| 2019-20          |                            0 |                          19 |
| 2020-21          |                           56 |                          20 |
| 2021-22          |                           39 |                          48 |
| 2022-23          |                            0 |                           8 |
| 2023-24          |                          100 |                          34 |
| Total            |                          195 |                         129 |

(b):        The State of Tamil Nadu has completed total length of 985 Km during last financial year with a total release of Rs.411.36 crore. The expenditure incurred by the State (including State share) during last financial year was Rs.777.78 crore.

'Rural  Roads'  is  a  State  subject  and  timely  completion  of  PMGSY roads  is  the  responsibility  of  the  respective  State  Governments. Regular and adequate availability of budgetary support to the States is a critical factor in timely completion of PMGSY works. In addition, State  Governments  are  advised  through  various  Regional  Review meetings  &  Empowered  Committee  meetings  to  take  suitable necessary action to expedite timely completion of road works under PMGSY. The following steps in this regard have been taken by the Ministry:

- i. States  have  been  requested  to  augment  executing  capacity and contracting capacity and their compliance in this regard is regularly reviewed.
2. ii.
3. Bidding document provisions have been rationalized.
4. Training is imparted to field engineers and contractors as well
- iii. as their staff for capacity building.
- iv. Regular and structured review of physical & financial parameters  is  conducted  at  regular  interval  in  various  zones
7. for a cluster of states of that zone.
8. (c):         While  implementing  the  scheme, challenges  like  issues of land  acquisition,  forest  clearance,  poor  contracting  capacity  of states, lack of response to tenders, law and order issues, financial capability of states to release funds, execution capacity of States/ State  Rural  Roads  Agencies  (SRRDAs)  came  in  the  way  which impacted the overall progress of the scheme in general. For NorthEastern and hill states, some additional issues like adverse climatic conditions,  tough  terrain,  short  working  season  etc.  also  came  in the way which compounded the challenges.

The Union Cabinet on 11 th September, 2024 approved implementation  of  the  Pradhan  Mantri  Gram  SadakYojana  -  IV (PMGSY-IV) during FY 2024-25 to 2028-29. The financial assistance is  to  be  provided  for  the  construction  of  62,500  Kms  road  for providing new connectivity to eligible 25,000 unconnected habitations  of  population size  500+  in  plains,  250+  in  NE  &  Hill Sates/UTs, special category areas (Tribal Schedule V, Aspirational Districts/Blocks, Desert areas) and 100+ in LWE affected districts as per  Census  2011  and  construction/  upgradation  of  bridges  on  the new  connectivity roads. Total outlay of this scheme  will be Rs.70,125crore.  The  PMGSY-IV  guidelines  have  been  circulated  to all  States/  UTs.  The  issues  faced  by  the  States  in  completion  of works have been considered while framing these guidelines.

(d):        The  State  of  Tamil  Nadu  has  been  sanctioned  a  total  of 7,318  Km  under  various  verticals  of  PMGSY  during  last  five  years out  of  which  5,832  Km  has  already  been  completed  by  the  State. The details of road length sanctioned and completed under PMGSY during the last five years in Tamil Nadu is given as under:

(Length in Km)

| Financial Year   | Sanctioned length   | Completed Length   |
|------------------|---------------------|--------------------|
| 2019-20          | 1,044               | 1,066              |
| 2020-21          | 2,151               | 871                |
| 2021-22          | 1,254               | 2,063              |
| 2022-23          | 0                   | 847                |
| 2023-24          | 2,869               | 985                |
| Total            | 7,318               | 5,832              |

(e):       In some cases of road construction under PMGSY in Tamil Nadu there have been challenges such as constraints on availability of land for  achieving  desired  geometrics,  achieving  appropriate  longitudinal gradient, due to steep terrain in hilly areas, etc.

(f):         The allocation/release of funds to the State for implementation of PMGSY is done on the basis of the proposal received from the State which inter-alia depends on works in hand, execution capacity of the State  and  unspent  balances  available  with  the  State.   The  funds  for implementation of the scheme are released by the Ministry to the State as whole. Further release of funds to the Programme Implantation Units (PIUs) at the district level is done by the respective State Governments depending upon the absorption capacity of the PIU.

Under  PMGSY  there  is  unbroken  chain  of  funds  release  and sanctioned  works  have  not  got  affected  due  to  inadequate  funds  for completion and maintenance of rural roads. The State of Tamil Nadu had been released a sum of Rs.199.66 crore during current year 202425. The  expenditure  incurred  by  the  State  (including  State  share) during current financial year is Rs.507 crore.

(g): PMGSY Phase-IV will significantly enhance last-mile connectivity by providing all-weather access to unconnected habitations,  especially  in  remote  and  Left-Wing  Extremism  (LWE)affected areas. The implementation will lay more emphasis on use of new/ green technologies for road construction, leveraging IT tools for improving project monitoring, quality and maintenance, etc.

The integration of technology through Geographical Information System (GIS)-based planning and the Post-5-Year Defect Liability Period (DLP)  Module  in  eMARG  i.e.  the  maintenance monitoring software, has strengthened monitoring and maintenance, ensuring long-term sustainability.

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