Rural Development Ministry Unveils Plan to Connect All Revenue Villages with Roads

Rural Roads is a State subject. The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a one-time special intervention to provide rural connectivity, by way of a single all-weather road, to the eligible unconnected habitations in the core network with a population of 500 persons and above (Census 2001) in plain areas. In respect of “ Special Category States” (i.e. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand), the Desert Areas (as identified in the Desert Development Programme), the Tribal (Schedule V) areas and Selected Tribal and Backward Districts (as identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Planning Commission), the objective was to connect eligible unconnected habitations with a population of 250 persons and above (Census 2001). In the critical Left-Wing Extremism-affected Blocks (as identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs), additional relaxation has been given to connect habitations with a population of 100 persons and above as per the 2001 census.

Till 2019, a total of 1, 53,879 habitations had been provided connectivity under PMGSY. Further, between 2019 and 2024 a total of 8,848 habitations were provided connectivity under the Yojana. The Government has announced that Phase IV of PMGSY will be launched to provide all-weather connectivity to 25,000 rural habitations which have become eligible in view of their population increase.