PMGSY
Connected in all seasons
Once upon a time, every change in season left its mark on the terrain of rural India. In summer, with every passing of wheel on an unpaved rural road, plumes of dust rose high in the air to spread over a larger area; while in monsoon, these ways became raging rivers with people having to wade through them to reach their areas of work or nearby towns for fulfilling their needs.
But no more. The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is increasingly bringing in a perceptible change in the lives of those who earlier were at the mercy of weather, to not only communicate with the outer world but also to earn their livelihoods.
The lack of roads also means that an estimated 20–30 per cent of the agricultural, horticultural, and forest produce gets wasted because of inability to reach marketing and processing centres.
Abdul Farooq of Chakur village in Maharashtra’s Wardha district was unemployed. Frustration was rising because of lack of opportunities to earn in the village which was not connected with an all-weather road to nearby places. But today he is happy: “With the construction of the road, I have bought an auto-rickshaw that is giving me income to feed my family.”
The roads have made an impact in virtually every sphere of life. Team Skoch visited villages in Maharashtra and Rajasthan to get a first-hand feel of impact of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). It found that wherever roads were built, the employment opportunities had increased; villagers had access to healthcare facilities and children–particularly girls–had started attending school regularly. It was now possible for farmers to carry their goods to the market, dairies had developed and families found themselves more socially included.
A single road has been responsible for improving the economic lot of many a villager. Raju of Jhanjzorli village in Thane bought a tractor that he uses for carrying milk to the market and returns with fodder. Harshila Thakur, a nurse at dispensary in the same village says, “The infant mortality rate has reduced ever since.” Compared with other such social spending schemes, the team found a good institutional and technology framework coupled with participatory planning as a key success factor.
But was all this change due to just a road? Team Skoch tried to test this out. It toured some unconnected villages in Rajasthan not experiencing any such benefits – just in case an argument is made that progress is more due to the overall 9 per cent economic growth and not because of the rural roads.
The team was witness to a critical patient being carried on a cart stuck in a stream which is the only way to the nearest dispensary. “Marriage proposals to the village fall through when the bridegroom and his parents see that there are no roads to this village,” said Suvalal Gujjar of Khedisuva village near Jaipur. “I have been storing grain in my house and if there was a road I could have taken it to the market and got a better price,” says Bairu Ram of the same village.
Factfile
The PMGSY was launched by the Government to provide connectivity to unconnected rural habitations as part of a poverty reduction strategy. In Phase I, habitations (hamlets) of population of 1,000 (500 in the case of hill States, tribal and desert areas) and above will be covered. In Phase II, habitations of population of 500 (250 in the case of hill States, tribal and desert areas) will be covered. About 368,000 km of new road construction and 370,000 km of upgradation/renewal is expected to be done at a cost of about $26 billion.
Coverage
No. of Road Works Cleared: 70,161
New Connectivity: 52,582
Upgradation: 17,575
Completed Road Works: 40,637
Road Works in Progress: 29,362
Total Length: 252,688.31 Km
Source: : www.pmgsy.nic.in |
The same situation was seen at Umri village in Wardha district of Maharashtra State. When Team Skoch went to Umri, their cab was stopped at a point where the driver said that vehicles can’t go further. In fact, that place had become like a parking area with many vehicles like motorcycle and bicycles being kept there. Ahead, there was a a muddy kachcha road for about 100 metres that led into a river.
The river was about 50 metres wide. The team members saw many villagers crossing that small river with their clothes up to their knees to reach Umri village, which was on other side of the river. There is no other way to reach Umri. Many villagers, including old people, children and women daily cross that the river for routine work. The bigger village near Umri was about 5 The team then visited Chakur village of Wardha district, where a 5.5-km road had been built recently under PMGSY scheme. When the team members were on the way to Chakur, just a kilometre away, they met a taxi driver who was taking five villagers to the village. Not only had the road given a source of livelihood to the taxi driver, who also was from the village, but also made commuting easy for the villagers.
As the team moved towards the village, it saw some shops on the road where the villagers were buying things, showing how convenient it had become for the villages to reach markets after the construction of the road. In the village, the team first visited the primary school where the classes were going on.
The attendance was good. Dilip Vithalrao Mendey, the school teacher, who said, “After construction of the road, number of girl students attending the school has increased and even students from nearby villages come to study here." Also, he added, "students from the village can easily continue their studies in nearby towns now as it is easy to go”. Chakur has a primary school with two teachers and 35 students. High school is just 10 minutes from there. Though Chakur doesn’t have a health facility, it is just 6 km away and reaching there is no problem now.
So, clearly, roads have made a difference in more than one ways in rural India. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Minister of Rural Development said, “the scheme provides an all-weather road connectivity to all habitations having a population of 500 in plain areas and 250 in hill and tribal areas. It is ensuring economic betterment of our villages. This is also helpful in checking migration to urban areas.”
The improved rural roads are also aiding the delivery of and access to public services and functionaries in rural areas. In coming years, with
the road network under the PMGSY covering more and more areas in the country, it could be said with certain surety that road to prosperity is being laid in the rural areas. |
