34,953 km of rural roads in Assam not in PWD fold yet

Staff Reporter

Guwahati: Although the Government of India has approved Rs 378 crore for the development of 563 km of rural roads across the state of Assam under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) recently, the state still has a total of 34,953 km of rural roads yet to come under Assam PWD.

Most of these roads are in the rural regions of the state and have been constructed and maintained by the Gaon Panchayats of the respective localities. 

According to a source, Kamrup district, which lies next to the capital city of Guwahati, has the largest number of such roads in the state. A total of 3331.17 km of rural roads in the Kamrup district are still to come under the state PWD. Nagaon and Hojai come second on this list with 2437.40 km of such roads. Karbi Anglong and West Karbi Anglong come next on this list, with 2347.57 km of rural roads not coming under the PWD. Lakhimpur with 2299.23 km and Karimganj with 2194.39 km of such roads come in the 4th and 5th ranks, respectively.

Similarly, Dhubri and South Salmara have 1484.17 km, Goalpara 1369.53 km, Barpeta 518.43 km, Morigaon 665.50 km, Sonitpur and Biswanath 1895.04 km, Dhemaji 1,259 km, Tinsukia 1338.77 km, Dibrugarh 1674.61 km, Sivasagar and Charaideo 1524.10 km, Jorhat and Majuli 879.48 km, Golaghat 1186.27 km, Dima Hasao 566.42 km, Cachar 1376.05 km, Hailakandi 793.36 km, Bongaigaon 627.22 km, Chirang 628.20 km, Nalbari 219.23 km, Baksa 1739.66 km, Darrang 1137.98 km, and Udalguri has 1460.19 km of such roads.

It must be noted that this number forms a significant part of the rural road network of the state. The same needs to be improved in phases by bringing them under the PWD if Assam has to reach the goal of becoming one of the top five states of the country. 

Since such roads come under gaon panchayats, their upkeep is not proper.

Also Read: Assam Government to construct 77 rural roads costing Rs 350 crore under PMGSY-III (sentinelassam.com)

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