117 kms of road being laid in rural areas daily: Govt

The pace of construction of rural roads has jumped to an average of 117 kms from 97.29 kms per day last year, leading to laying of about 10,500 kms of roads in the first quarter of 2017-18.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the target is to construct 57,000 kms of roads in 2017-18, at an average rate of 156 kms per day to provide connectivity to 16,600 habitations.

"In the first quarter of the financial year 2017-18, 10,556 km PMGSY roads have been constructed, clocking an average of 117.28 km per day," the rural development ministry said in a statement.

The rate of construction was 97.29 km per day in the same period last year.

The pace will further accelerate in the period between October, 2017 and March, 2018, the ministry said, adding that the annual target is most likely to be met.

PMGSY aims to connect more than 1.78 lakh habitations across the country out of which projects relating to about 1.61 lakh habitations have already been sanctioned and 1.29 lakh habitations have been connected till June this year, it added.

The rural roads scheme is being implemented across the country, particularly in states having deficit of roads such as Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand.

The ministry said PMGSY was focusing on the use of non- conventional construction materials such as cold mix, waste plastic, fly ash, jute and coir geo-textiles among others.

-PTI