Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on Monday announced that the Mudalvarin Grama Saalaigal Membattu Thittam (CM’s Rural Road Development Scheme) would be extended for an additional two years. This extension includes upgrading, strengthening, and maintaining 10,000 km of village panchayat and panchayat union roads. The initiative will have a budget of Rs 4,000 crore.
Making a suo motu statement under Rule 110, Stalin said an initial announcement of Rs 4,000 crore in January last year had facilitated the strengthening of 8,120 km of rural roads in the last two years. Through initiatives such as the Chief Minister’s Rural Road Development Scheme, NABARD-Rural Infrastructure Development Fund, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and the Peri-Urban Scheme, permission has been granted for the development of 16,596 km of roads and 425 high-level bridges at a total cost of Rs 9,324 crore.
“We continue to implement the schemes,” Stalin added. Tamil Nadu has an extensive 1.38lakh-km network of rural roads.
The village panchayat and panchayat union roads remain important factors for the development of rural economy and eradication of poverty. Investment in rural roads is directly linked to the welfare of people and helps improve businesses, agricultural production and increase the income of rural people, the CM said.
“It eliminates social economic inequalities and accelerates development. That is why our govt is constantly giving priority to the development of bus routes, arterial roads that link small villages and other roads that connect important services,” he said.
Rural development minister I Periasamy said the chief minister had announced the continuation of the CM’s Rural Road Development Scheme despite the financial burden on the govt.
In the recent financial budget, state govt sanctioned Rs 1,000 crore under the same scheme to expand the road network to remote villages, alongside road development work covering 2,000 km valued at Rs 1,000 crore for this fiscal year.
Responding to the announcement, TVK MLA and DMK ally T Velmurugan said govt could consider undertaking road work based on MLAs’ recommendations or allocate an additional Rs 2,340 crore for the 234 MLAs to address the immediate demands of their constituents.
