Mamata unveils 13,000 km rural road project in Bengal

Krishnanagar: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a slew of developmental programmes while addressing a massive gathering at Nadia district on Tuesday.

Before hundreds of supporters at a programme in Krishnanagar, Banerjee announced the state-wide construction of nearly 13,000 km of new rural roads to connect parts of Bengal and ensure better connectivity with state and national highways.

She also claimed that the construction of 35,000 km of roads would be completed by December 2019. The work of laying new roads will be undertaken by the Panchayats and Rural Development Department.

"I feel the Panchayats and Rural Development Department is number 1 in the construction of Gramin Sadak Yojna and also number 1 in 100 days work in the country," she said.

It may be mentioned that after coming to power in 2011, Banerjee has majorly emphasized the construction of rural roads. From 2001-2011 during the Left Front regime, only 10,000 km rural roads were constructed in a decade. Between 2011 and 2017, a total of 13, 789 km of rural roads were constructed. By 2019, the state government will complete construction of 35,000 km rural roads as well. The construction of rural roads has brought major changes in rural Bengal, connecting villages to state and national highways.

She said construction of 25 lakh houses under the Bengal Aabash Yojna has been completed and construction of another five lakh has begun. "Bengal has set an example in the country in rural development. Whether it is roads or drinking water or houses, the state is showing the path to the whole of India," she maintained.

The Chief Minister said to supply drinking to the people, 3.14 crore litre of unfiltered water from River Bhagirathi will be purified and supplied to every household. Also, a sum of Rs 80 crore will be spent to set up the water treatment plant. It may be mentioned that after coming to power in 2011, Chief Minister held a series of meetings with the senior officials of the Public Health Engineering department to find out ways and means so that unfiltered water can be withdrawn from the river, then purified and supplied to houses through pipelines. This has resolved the acute scarcity of drinking water in the state.

She further added that a blood bank has been set up at Tehatta sub-divisional hospital which will be of immense help to the locals who have to rush to Kolkata in case of an emergency. A new police station has come up at Karimpur. A home for children "Shaisali" has also been set up.

The Chief Minister said despite severe financial constraints, massive development programmes have been carried out in the district in particular and in the whole of Bengal in general. Attempts are being made to declare Mayapur as a World Heritage site and Nabadwip as a heritage town. If the two cities get these tags, there will be a constant flow of traffic and the financial health of these areas will improve. It may be mentioned that Banerjee has assured senior monks of ISKCON during her visit to Mayapur on Monday that she would provide all assistance in getting the World Heritage tag for the town.

She added that the state government had given Rs 1,200 crore among 30 lakh farmers who had been affected by recent floods. A special fund worth Rs 100 crore has been created to save the farmers from going for distress sale.