By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday reviewed the performance of Rural Development Department, where Rural Development Minister Preeti Ranjan Ghadai along with Department Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh presented the report card. A documentary of the RD department’s achievements was presented on the occasion.
The department will construct 15,000 km roads under Mukhya Mantri Sadak Yojana with an expenditure of Rs 12,000 crore, Minister Preeti Ranjan Ghadai said adding the State government plans to construct 1,500 new bridges with an outlay of Rs 6,000 crore under Biju Setu Yojana (BSY) in the next five years.
Ghadai said the department budget has increased 25 times in comparison to the year 2000-2001 ( from Rs 305 cr to Rs 7,500 cr in the year 2023-24) and till date, 2,241 have been constructed under various schemes and another 1,304 are under construction.
Against the manifesto (2019-2024), commitment was made for 750 bridges under BSY out of which 679 have been completed and 900 will be constructed by March 2024.Similarly, 6,247 km length roads have been completed under MMSY and other State plan schemes against the commitment of 3,000 km. The department also plans to complete another 6,000 km roads by March 2024.
