Abhijit Ray, Kolkata: After this instruction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Nabanna took initiative to reform rural roads.Nabannna is a building in the city of Howrah in Howrah district. Nabanna houses the temporary State Secretariat of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at Mandirtala, Shibpur. It was inaugurated on 5 October 2013 by Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee. With the financial support of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), the state government has targeted construction of 1140 km of rural roads in the current financial year. The cost of this project will be around Rs. 1034 crores. Panchayats and rural development departments will work on the construction of these roads through the National Rural Development Fund.The state government has already discussed with NABARD for this project. NABARD will give this amount to the state as a loan on RIDF sector on soft terms. Preparation of detailed project report of this project work has also been completed. According to the administrative sources, the construction of rural roads will be done in all the districts of the state. Since 2011, more than one lakh kilometers of roads have been constructed in the state. Which is three times the total amount of left period. In the last financial year, 36 thousand 259 km of completely new roads have been built in the rural road plan, and the state has already taken several projects for overall rural development. At the beginning of this year, the state has allocated around Tk 600 crore for rural development work. This time, the construction of 1140 kilometers of rural roads is going to be connected with it. According to the officials of the Panchayat Department, the demand for rural road development in various areas is going to be met.According to the sources, currently the Minister of Works Pulak Roy has signed the file related to this project while he was the Panchayat Minister. Preparation of DPR for this project work has also been completed. According to the sources of the department, this work will be done in more or less all districts.Recently, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from the administrative meeting of West Burdwan ordered the state administration to find an alternative way. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee made it clear that development will not stop even if the central government stops allocating money. Again, the visiting team of the Union Ministry of Rural Development has started visiting various districts to see if the 100-day work rural road scheme is being implemented properly in the state.At that time, this decision is considered important by the State Panchayat Department. According to sources in Navanna, the top brass of Navanna agreed that the construction and renovation of rural roads was becoming very urgent before Puja. That is why Navanna wanted to get this huge amount of money. According to sources, NABARD has already given verbal approval to the state for this loan.In that case, only after receiving this grant, the state wants to complete the renovation and construction of rural roads in the state before Puja, according to sources. Already across the state, the State Election Commission has started preparing for the panchayat elections. The State Election Commission and the State Panchayat Department have also issued several directives to the districts for several steps including reservation of seats.In that case, the administrative and political circles think that there is a possibility of panchayat elections in the state at the beginning of next year.
West Bengal targeted construction of 1140 km of rural roads in the current financial year.
