Lok Sabha Question No. 2838 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-18
Subject: Work Study under PMGSY
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Smt. Bharti Pardhi

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2838 ANSWERED ON 18/03/2025

## WORK STUDY UNDER PMGSY

## 2838. SMT. BHARTI PARDHI:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has conducted any study in respect of Pradhan MantriGraminSadakYojana (PMGSY);
- (b) if  so,  the  extent  to  which  the  PMGSY  has  been  effective  in improving rural connectivity particularly in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh, State and district-wise;
- (c)
- the details of challenges faced in this regard;
- (d) the steps taken by the Government to address these challenges to achieve the target;
- (e) whether  there  has  been  inordinate  delay  in  achieving  the targets under the first and second phases of PMGSY; and
- (f) if  so,  the  reasons  therefor  and  the  corrective  steps  being proposed for the construction and completion of the remaining length of roads under these two phases?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)

(a)  &(b):     Impact  evaluation  studies  of  Pradhan  Mantri  Gram SadakYojana (PMGSY) have been conducted by many agencies viz. NITI Aayog, International Labour Organization (ILO), Indian Institute of  Management,  Ahmedabad  (IIM-A)  and  the World  Bank.  These studies  have concluded  that  the  scheme  has  improved  access  to employment generation  in  both  farm  and  non-farm  sectors  and  has  helped farmers in getting better farm prices etc. The latest  evaluation has been done by the  NITI Aayog, in  the year 2020, which has made

- education and health care facilities, facilitated the following observations about the scheme:

- Scheme  is  well  aligned  with  India's  International  Goals  and contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as it  addresses  the  issues  of  poverty,  hunger  and  infrastructure
- i. for growth;
- Roads  constructed  under  PMGSY  have  been  observed  to create  a  positive  impact   both  at  the  level  of  the  household
- ii. and the community;
- iii. The roads have been observed to increase access to market and  livelihood  opportunities,  health  and  education  facilities; and
- iv. PMGSY  is  noted  to  build  the  foundations  for  long-lasting poverty  reduction  in  rural  India.  Improved  rural  connectivity provides a long-term and sustained boost in the living standards  of  rural  population  as  it  allows  households  to accumulate wealth and human capital.

Under  the  various  interventions/verticals  of  PMGSY,  a  total  of 89,725 km of road length and 1,413 bridges have been completed and 17,539 habitations have been provided connectivity in the State of Madhya Pradesh. In the district of Balaghat, a total of 2,712 km of 423

road length and 121 bridges have been completed and habitations have been provided connectivity under PMGSY.

- (c) & (d): While implementing the scheme, the State had to face many challenges, such as difficult and hilly terrain, security related issues,  inadequate  contracting  capacity,  disruptions  in  working season, land availability and forest clearance issues, etc.

The  progress  of  implementation  of  rural  roads  under  PMGSY  is regularly  reviewed  by  way  of  Regional  Review  Meetings  (RRMs), Performance Review Committee (PRC) Meetings, PreEmpowered/Empowered  Committee  Meetings  with  the  States.  At District level, the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) monitors the implementation of various Central schemes  including  PMGSY.  In  addition  to  this,  special  review meetings/monthly review meetings are also held by Secretary/Additional  Secretary/Joint  Secretary,  Ministry  of  Rural

Development  with  Chief  Secretaries/Principal  Secretaries  of  the States for review of progress under PMGSY.

- (e) & (f): The  sunset date of  PMGSY-I  was  March  2019 and  for PMGSY-II it  was  March  2020.  The  timeline  was  extended  due  to the various reasons, such as due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19, adverse weather conditions,  law and order issues, land availability, pending  clearances  etc. The  current timeline of PMGSY-I, II, III & RCPLWEA is March 2025. Almost all the works have  been  completed  by  the  State  of  Madhya  Pradesh  under PMGSY-I&II except 15 km under PMGSY-I & 7 km under PMGSY-II.

The  Ministry of Rural  Development  has  taken  the  following initiatives to ensure completion of the sanctioned PMGSY Projects within the time-line prescribed in the programme guidelines:

- (i)  The  Operational  Manual  of  the  PMGSY  has  been  amended  to ensure that all works sanctioned under the scheme commence on the ground within 72 days from the date of sanction.
- (ii) States have been requested to augment executing capacity and contracting capacity and their compliance in this regard is regularly reviewed.
- (iii) Bidding document provisions have been rationalized.
- (iv) Training is being imparted to field engineers and contractors as well as their staff for capacity building.
- (v)  The  Ministry  has  engaged  Central  Public  Sector  Undertakings (CPSUs) in some of the States to augment execution capacity of the States.
- (vi)  The  Ministry  has  also  conducted  a  number  of  Contractor's Outreach Programmes in the States to attract the Contractors in the implementation of the programme.
- (vii)  Information Technology is being utilized for monitoring of the progress of works.

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