MINUTES OF THE REGIONAL REVIEW MEETING HELD ON 5th & 6th January, 2017 at Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Participating States: Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh
A Regional Review meeting of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for the States of Central Zone –Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, was held on 5th & 6th January, 2017 at Lucknow under the chairmanship of Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Joint Secretary (RC), MoRD & DG, NRRDA.
On the first day, overview of the implementation status of PMGSY in the participating States and the appropriate actions required to be taken by the respective States was provided by JS (RC), MoRD & DG, NRRDA. The State-wise progress and item-wise review through a power point presentation was also carried out.
On the second day, specific inputs from STAs, SQMs, SQCs and NQMs were discussed. In addition, technical presentations were made on “OpenRoads Design application”, “Cold Mix Technology” and “Road Construction Equipments”. The States were encouraged to use cost effective “green technology” and locally relevant equipments, in the construction of PMGSY roads.
On 5th January, 2017
Shri S.V.S.Rangarao, Chief Executive Officer, UPRRDA, welcomed Shri Deepak Trivedi, Principal Secretary, Rural Development, Government of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Joint Secretary(RC), MoRD & DG, NRRDA, Shri Rakesh Chaturvedi, Chief Executive Officer, CGRRDA, Directors from MoRD, NRRDA and all the State representatives. He thanked Ministry of Rural Development on behalf of the State Government for giving this opportunity to host this Regional Review Meeting of PMGSY at Lucknow.
JS(RC) & DG, NRRDA in his opening remarks briefed about the importance of this review meeting and provided a bird’s eye view of the progress of the participating States in PMGSY. He informed about the decision of Government of India to accelerate execution of PMGSY to complete the connectivity mandate of the balance eligible habitations under PMGSY-I by March 2019 itself, which is preponed from 2022. For this States are required to prepare month-wise, PIU-wise plan to achieve the targets by March, 2019.
JS(RC) informed about the fresh sanctions given during 2016-17 to the States of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and requested to prioritize completion of tendering process and to award these works without delay. He advised the States to utilize the financial resources and to submit the Utilization certificates at the earliest, for facilitating further releases by the Ministry. He quoted examples of Gujarat and Karnataka which completed the entire awardexercise within 45 days after tendering.
JS (RC) & DG, NRRDAoutlined the future task of3 Central Zone States with respect to submission of DPRs for a total balance rural road length of 10,415 km (with new connectivity of 2,973 km and upgradation of 7,442 km under PMGSY-II)to connect the total balance of 1,007 habitations. 955 habitations (100-249) out of1,007 habitationsare in Chhattisgarh for which DPRs are yet to be submitted and all the States are required to fix time line for submission of DPRs to NRRDA for approval with DPRsprepared in-house or out-sourced. If the States are required to engage Consultants it must be on Quality-cum-Cost Basis System (QCBS). Chief Engineer, UPRRDA informed that balance 252 km road length under PMGSY-II are pertaining to 4 to 5 Parliamentary constituencies for which recommendations of these MPs are yet to be received. He advised the UPRRDA to get the recommendations of the respective MPs and submit the proposals for sanction. Chief Engineer, CGRRDA assured that within 15 days, DPRs of balance 955 habitations will be submitted for sanction. Chief Engineer, UPRRDA informed that 12 DPRs of 1000+ category under PMGSY-I are not feasible and Engineer-in-Chief, MPRRDA informed that DPRs for balance 40 habitations will be submitted soon for sanction.
JS (RC) further informed that Cabinet has approved “Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas” as a separate vertical under PMGSY, in 44 worst affected LWE districts and adjoining districts critical from security and communication point of view, in which connection, the Secretary, Rural Development, Government of India has already written letters to Chief Secretaries of concerned States requesting to initiate the process of preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of the identified roads and get them scrutinized by the STAs as per PMGSY Guidelines and to send the consolidated project proposals to MoRD for the consideration and approval of Inter Ministerial Empowered Committee (IMEC). He stated that as per existing PMGSY Guidelines, only 267 most Intensive IAP blocks as identified by MHA with a population of 100 (as per 2001 Census) and above are covered in PMGSY, but provision in LWE Road Connectivity Project the population of Habitation is not a criterion and the roads identified by MHA in consultation with the States and Security Agencies are taken up. 8 districts of Chhattisgarh, 1 district of Madhya Pradeshand 2 districts of Uttar Pradesh have been included in Road Connectivity Project for LWE Affected Areas.
In 2016-17,these3 States have the target to construct 12,850 km of PMGSY-I roads connecting 3,350 habitations and nearly 2,654 km is the target using new technologies. Thus in all 23,265 km road length is to be constructed connecting 4,357 habitations before March, 2019.
The average length of PMGSY roads to be constructed in 2016-17 would be 7.53 km per day (as against 5.08 km done in 2015-16) in Chhattisgarh, 16.98 km per day (against 12.17 km done in 2015-16) in Madhya Pradesh and 10.68 km per day (against 13.75 km done in 2015-16) in Uttar Pradesh. With this target in mind, the execution capacity of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradeshare to be scaled up by 1.48 & 1.39 times respectively in 2016-17. The average target of habitations per month for 2016-17 in respect of Chhattisgarh is 62(as against 43 done in 2015-16), Madhya Pradesh is 204(as against 17 in 2015-16)and in Uttar Pradesh it is 13(as against 8). It was emphasized by the JS (RC) & DG, NRRDA that to achieve the enhanced targets in an accelerated manner, by March, 2019, there is an urgent necessity of strengthening the PIUs either by filling up vacancies or creating additional PIUs (if required), re-arranging the PIUs, by rationalizing their work load or by co-opting Central PSUs for execution of PMGSY. States can also engage PIUs from the other line departments within the State where work load is less.
(Action: All States)
JS(RC) & DG, NRRDA emphasized the concerns expressed in CAG’s Performance Audit on non-completion of the projects sanctioned prior to 2010-11. As per Recommendations of CAG, the spill over financial liability in respect of PMGSY works, which are still not completed even after 4 years, will have to be borne by the State Government except those works which are stalled due to court cases/ litigation, non availability of forest clearances. He also requested the States to fix the monthly targets for PIUs and contractors for achieving the progress in every month in respect of these works and to share the steps taken along with the progress achieved, to Ministry/ NRRDA. The SEs must review progress of the contractors and PIUs on a regular basis. In case of Chhattisgarh, 190 road works comprising of 2,369.26 km length, 135 road works in Madhya Pradesh comprising of 2,675.20 km length and in case of Uttar Pradesh, it is 108 road works comprising of 943.67 km length are pending for more than 4 years. States have to focus on completing these road works, on a priority basis. Chief Engineer, UPRRDA informed that most of the road works out of 108 road works pending for more than 4 years are proposed for deletion and out of 283 road works pending for 2-4 years, 168 road works (831.34 km length) are in progress and remaining are proposed for deletion. Principal Secretary, Rural Development, Uttar Pradesh assured that by end of March 2019, all road works sanctioned during 2016-17 will be completed. State was advised to submit the proposal of deletion of road works to MoRD at the earliest.JS (RC) informed that States of Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka and Punjab will complete all the balance PMGSY I & II projects by March, 2017.
(Action : All States)
The States were reminded for releasing their balance State share of 2016-17 which is Rs. 387.29 crore (80.85%) for Chhattisgarh against the State Share due of Rs. 479 crore and Rs. 558.59 crore (49.30%) for Madhya Pradesh against the State Share due of Rs. 1,133 crore. Only in Uttar Pradesh, 100% fund is released as State Share. JS(RC) requested States of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh to co-ordinate with the State Finance Department to get the required allocation of funds for PMGSY, in their supplementary demands, which will not only ensure better and more effective utilization of the funds available but would also go a long way in achieving the objective of the government to substantially achieve the PMGSY targets by March 2019.
(Action: All States)
JS (RC) & DG, NRRDA also stressed on increasing the use of “Green Technologies” in construction of PMGSY roads, which are environment friendly, time and cost saving and labour health friendly. He underlined that every State should achieve much more than the minimum 15% of the total length proposed under each batch to the Ministry by using technologies like Waste Plastic, Cold Mix, Nanotechnology, cell filled concrete, panelled cement concrete, lime and cement stabilisation, geo-textiles, fly ash etc. He highlighted that the total target length for 2016-17 under New Connectivity and Upgradation is 48,812 km, out of which the R&D Target is 13,839 km and for Central Zone States it is 2,654 km(Chhattisgarh 644km, 1,393 km for Madhya Pradesh and 617 km for Uttar Pradesh). Till December, 2016 States of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have achieved only 16.86 km, 413.78 km and 179.74 km length respectivelywhich is very less. He reiterated that the States may also convert the already sanctioned length of conventional roads into new technology roads. In case of Cold mix & other technology there is no further approval required from NRRDA for which NRRDA has already issued an advisory to all the States. The financial savings in the same phase of PMGSY may be used to compensate the additional cost due to use of new technologies like cold mix. States were requested to increase the pace of work. ITNO / PIUs must upload the data regularly on Proposal Module of OMMAS so that same data gets reflected on R&D module of OMMAS also. Chief Engineer, CGRRDA informed that most of the road works are pertaining to naxal affected areas. 174 km length of road out of 500 km will be achieved by end of March, 2017 by using R&D technologies. States were advised to complete the balance road works particularly LWE areas on “Nomination basis”.
The importance of maintenance was highlighted andJS (RC) & DG, NRRDA informed that PMGSY over the last 16 years has created a substantial rural infrastructure asset with massive investments and till Dec. 2016 about 1,40,625 km roads have been constructed by these 3 States, out of which, 1,04,240 km road length is due for post 5-year maintenance as on 01.04.2016 (ranging from 18,408 km to 46,518 km), for which the maintenance funding should be the top priority. States should prepare systematic plan/ strategy for post 5 year maintenance of PMGSY road works. Regular and timely maintenance of this vast road network is of critical importance in order to sustain the benefits of the investments made.
(Action: All States)
JS (RC) & DG, NRRDA informed that the Ministry while making indicative allocations to the States at the beginning of the financial year had set aside nearly 6% of the total BE for allocation to the better performing States, as financial incentives at the end of the financial year. Ministry has decided to provide this incentive to top one-third performing States, which show higher achievement on the basis of the set parameters. The performance would be judged on the basis of achievements upto December, 2016. Statescan utilize the funds released as incentive for the purpose of periodic maintenance of rural roads already constructed under the PMGSY scheme. The parameters and their corresponding Weightage have already mentioned in the advisory issued to all the States by the Ministry.
JS (RC) also briefed about fund credited and utilized by the participating States during the last two years and current year for maintenance of rural roads. During 2014-15 and 2015-16, an amount of Rs. 35.31 crore (89%) has been utilized against the credited fund of Rs. 39.86 Cr. by Chhattisgarh. Madhya Pradesh has utilized Rs. 100.04 Cr. (83%) against Rs. 120.00 Cr. fund released for SRRDA maintenance account and in Uttar Pradesh 100% fund has been utilized. During the current year (Upto Quarter ending Dec.16), the percentage of expenditure w.r.t fund credited is 66% in Chhattisgarh, 56% in Madhya Pradesh and 38% in Uttar Pradesh, which needs to be improved. States should ensure that the roads constructed under the PMGSY are maintained properly. Adequate funds for this purpose must be provided in the budget of the State. States were requested to upload maintenance expenditure on OMMAS regularly. It was pointed out that though the States are utilizing the maintenance amount, the same should also be reflected in NQMs report as most of the reports have graded the roads as ‘Unsatisfactory’ on maintenance.
JS (RC) & DG, NRRDA explained about the pilot using Remote Sensing by Centre for Geo-Informatics Application in Rural Development (CGARD), NIRD & PR, Hyderabad (Application of Space Technology in Rural Roads Projects under PMGSY) with the helpof National Remote Sensing Center (NRSC), is a full-fledged center of ISRO, for 5 States including Chhattisgarh from Central East (two districts in each State). A MoU has already been signed between CDAC, Pune and NRRDA, for establishment of computerized data base for core rural road network through development of web based Geographical Information System (GIS) linked to road condition inventories. The report of CGARD has already been forwarded to the concerned States for taking action and sending comments, with respect to the variations observed in the report like total road length, habitations etc. Further, it is proposed to universalize this technology across the country in future. States were requested to ensure all the information relating to road works is entered correctly in OMMAS by the PIUs.
JS (RC) & DG, NRRDA briefed about implementation of Geographic Information System (GIS) under PMGSY, which aims to establish computerized data base for core rural road network through development of web based GIS linked to Road Condition Inventories and also, development of social and environmental screening using GIS platform. 3Central Zone States have also been covered under this GIS. NRRDA has already issued advisory to the States for digitization of their data base with a request to provide one sample block to C-DAC. No Pilot blocks for QC to CDAC have been submitted by these States. Engineer-in-Chief, MPRRDA informed that GIS digitization is already completed for PMGSY-I and shape file is available. Chief Engineer, CGRRDA informed that Consultant has already been engaged. Chief Engineer, UPRRDA informed that GIS is completed through NIC and available for all blocks. States were advised to submit atleast one pilot block to CDAC along with shape files.
(Action: All States)
JS (RC) & DG, NRRDA explained about the updating of “Meri Sadak” mobile application developed by C-DAC and the need to respond to the querries & questions of the citizens made on “Meri Sadak”, properly & timely. This Mobile Application is available for download on “Google Play Store” for free. The application has been envisaged as a technology enabled grievance redressal system and social audit tool based on Citizen Feedback. So far more than 6.42 lakh persons have downloaded this App. from Google Play store and from programme website omms.nic.in. Director (Projects-III) & Chief Quality Coordinator (CQC), NRRDA shall be the Nodal Officer. At the State level, State Quality Coordinators (SQCs) are the Nodal Officers to handle feedback module and are expected to dispose off the feedbacks received under “Meri Sadak” of OMMAS portal within the stipulated time frame. This should be given top priority by all SQCs.
In case of grievances, the interim reply has to be given to the complainant in 7 days. But final reply to complainant should be given within 60 days. The number of pending “Final Reply” is 196 in case of Uttar Pradesh. State may ensure disposal of feedback in time bound manner without compromising on quality aspects.
(Action: Uttar Pradesh)
After the remarks by the JS (RC) & DG, NRRDA, the review of the progress was made State-wise:
In compliance to the minutes of the last Regional Review Meeting held in January, 2016 at Bhopal regarding reconciliation of habitations data on OMMAS, Chief Engineers, CGRRDA and UPRRDA have agreed to reconcile all habitation data within 30 days and 15 days respectively and Engineer-in-Chief, MPRRDA agreed to do by 31st January, 2017. Engineer-in-Chief, MPRRDA also agreed to complete the balance road works sanctioned prior 2010-11, held up due to land problem and forest clearances, by 31st March, 2017.
Regarding submission of Life Cycle Cost study, States were advised to conduct study through NITs, IITs, IIMs and STAs. Engineer-in-Chief, MPRRDA agreed by 15th February, 2017, study report will be submitted to NRRDA. Chief Engineer, CGRRDA informed that study will be conducted with the help of NIT, Raipur and report will be submitted to NRRDA by 31st January, 2017. Chief Engineer, UPRRDA informed that Life Cycle Cost study will be conducted and report will be submitted by end of March, 2017. Director (P-I) advised all theStates to submit the financial proposal to NRRDA, so that fund (under World Bank Technical Assistance) can be released to SRRDA for conducting the study.