The Vice President, Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, while delivering the valedictory address at the National Conference on Rural Roads, organized by the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA), an autonomous agency under the Ministry of Rural Development and the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC), has said here today that rural prosperity ought to be the ultimate focus of our public programmes for development and the major challenge that the nation faces today is that of balancing the growth process and bridging the various “divides” and the “divide” between the urban and rural areas has been among the most significant ones. He expressed concern that incomes of many in the rural areas have dwindled and farm households have become more prone to stress and insecurity. The greatest developmental challenge is to secure all inclusive development which is socially equitable and regionally balanced, he stressed. Shri Shekhawat further said that in the strategy and planning for rural development, rural connectivity has tremendous importance as a necessary pre-condition for sustainable reduction of rural poverty. Roads become a lifeline to new markets, new businesses, new incomes and above all to new opportunities. The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) has given a new thrust to development of rural roads and its success in achieving the targets will certainly go a long way in improving the much-needed rural infrastructure. He expressed satisfaction that the construction of rural roads is now aimed to be taken up on the basis of systematic network planning and that there is distinctive focus on quality assurance.
The Vice President made the observation that the issue of adequate maintenance and upkeep of the entire network of rural roads in a holistic manner is of critical importance and it needs to be tackled collectively by all stakeholders. Further, complete information on construction of rural roads including allocation of funds, progress of expenditure should be widely disseminated to ensure efficient and corruption-free utilization of public funds under the watchful eyes of the public. He expressed satisfaction that the Conference provided opportunity to all the participants for sharing of experiences and evolving strategies for integrated development of rural roads. He hoped that the conclusions & recommendations of the Conference would make significant impact on the development of rural areas.
The Vice President released the “Quality Assurance Handbook for Rural Roads” on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister for Rural Development, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, informed that to check quality of rural road construction, the system of technical audit has been introduced, a 3-tier system of quality monitoring has already been put in place and to ensure transparency in programme implementation, all the details have been made available in the Citizens’ domain. Dr. Singh assured that the recommendations and suggestions of various technical and experience-sharing sessions will be positively considered and put into practice. He hoped that the States would also come out with State road development plans on the lines of `Rural Roads Plan : Vision 2025’.
Shri M.V. Rajasekharan, Union Minister of State for Planning in his speech said that without rural roads there can be no mainstreaming of the people with society and the economy and rural connectivity is critical for servicing the transportation needs of farmers to provide the much-needed impetus to the agricultural and rural manufacturing industries and thereby creating new areas of employment and reducing poverty. He further said that PMGSY within a short span has already set precedence in effective project management.
Earlier, the Minister of State for Rural Development, Shri Chandra Sekhar Sahu, welcomed the gathering.
Dr. Subas Pani, Secretary (Rural Development) proposed a vote of thanks.
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(Release ID :28197)