Bengal to get Rs4,000 crore under central scheme for road projects

At a time when West Bengal is yet to get any concrete assurance on interest moratorium, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh today announced Rs4000 crore for upgrading rural roads in the state under a central scheme in the current fiscal.

"We have set a roadmap for development and upgradation of rural roads totalling 9700km at a cost of Rs4,000 crore within 2012 calender year," Ramesh, the Union Panchayat and Rural Development minister told reporters here.

He said that the upgrading of the roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana had been pending for the last five years.

Ramesh said that the state would also send DPRs for 4000 km of new roads in Maoist-hit districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura comprising 'junglemahal'.

"We will clear the projects in 2 to 3 weeks after we receive the proposals," he said.

Ramesh also assured the state that he would look into the demand for conferring backward district status to Cooch Behar and Darjeeling districts.