Centre to relax norms on width of rural roads

KOCHI: The Central Government has decided to relax the norms regarding the width of the roads to be constructed under Gram Sadak Vikas Yojana (Prime Minister's Rural Road Project) in the state.At a meeting of the district level Vigilance and Monitoring Council here on Tuesday, Union Minister of State for Food and Civil Supplies K V Thomas said the width of such roads in the state had been decreased to six metres.According to the existing norms, the width of the roads constructed under the project was fixed at eight metres."Given the space constraints in the state, constructing roads with a width of eight metres is not pragmatic. That is why the Centre has decided to give relaxation," Thomas said.Earlier, there were instances of funds running into crores of rupees being lapsed due to unavailability of land.The government has decided to renew the road map for the project brought out in 2004. The new norms will come into effect in August.Under Indira Awas Yojana (Indira Housing Scheme) 2,534 houses will be constructed in the district. Of these 1,520 houses are earmarked for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. A total of Rs 101.4 crore has been allotted for the project in the district for the current year.In the next year, a total of 2,210 houses will be allotted to the district, of which 1,165 houses will be for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.Of the Rs 6.09 crore allotted to the district under various projects, only Rs 1.28 crore was spent.Additional District Magistrate M A Gopakumar, other officials and presidents of various block panchayats also attended the meeting.