679 villages adopted under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana: Rural Development Minister Choudhary Birender Singh

Union Rural Development Minister Choudhary Birender Singh on Tuesday said 679 villages have been adopted under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) in its first year.

"All 16 MPs from Chhattisgarh (11 Lok Sabha and 5 Rajya Sabha) have adopted villages under the scheme," he said.

"In the first year of SAGY, 679 village panchayats have been adopted. Almost 86 per cent of the MPs have adopted villages in their concerned areas while as many as 108 MPs are yet to adopt villages," he said.

"The final date of adopting the villages was 31 May but now it has been extended till June 30 and the implementation of different programmes under the project will be started from July," the minister said.

Over a query on reason behind reluctance of 108 MPs to adopt villages, he said, "There are several reasons. Like in Delhi there is no village, so 10 MPs from there still have to fulfil their target.

"Although they have been asked to select villages in their neighbouring states or in those area in Delhi which are developed but still have a character of village," he added. Under the scheme, both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs have to adopt three gram panchayats in five years where special attention will be given for undertaking development works and providing basic amenities.

The scheme was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15.