Road to development

Published : Sep 26, 2008 00:00 IST

MADHYA PRADESH boasts motorable roads, well-lit villages and well-irrigated fields. This has been made possible by creating new infrastructure and by improving the existing facilities on a priority basis. The government has made construction of irrigation facilities, upgradation of roads and creation of new power-generation facilities its thrust areas.

In this respect, irrigation has received top priority. The net area under irrigation in 2004-05 was 6.19 million hectares. The government set itself a target of covering 50 per cent of the land. The present coverage is 39 per cent. A Rs.1,919-crore Water Sector Restructuring Project was taken up to restore irrigation facilities in 5 lakh ha by renovating the existing irrigation system in 30 districts.

The State is rich in low-grade coal suitable for power generation and has immense potential for tapping hydroelectricity. In the last four and a half years, its power generation capacity has increased from 3,890 megawatts to 6,684 MW. By 2009, it intends to achieve a capacity of 8,170 MW.

There are eight hydroelectric power stations with 747.5 MW installed capacity. A total of 50,475 villages (out of 51,806) have been electrified. Transmission losses have been brought down to 5 per cent from 7.93 per cent. A Rs.2,900-crore action plan has been implemented to take power to the wells of farmers.

The government has formed the Narmada Hydroelectric Development Corporation Ltd, a joint venture with the National Hydro-Electric Power Corporation, for the execution of the 1,000-MW Indira Sagar hydroelectric project and the 520-MW Omkareshwar hydroelectric project. The Indira Sagar Project has been completed ahead of schedule. The State government has enacted the Madhya Pradesh Power Reform Act to bring about qualitative improvement in the energy sector. Five companies have been constituted for the generation, distribution and transmission of power.

In order to ensure uninterrupted power supply to industries, the State government has opened up the power sector, and has followed it up with concessions. Captive power plants have been allowed in a big way but the government has laid down some guidelines. Stringent rules have been framed to ensure that the creation of captive power plants do not render the State Electricity Board defunct.

Customers who have been permitted to set up captive power plants must compulsorily draw at least 50 per cent of their monthly electricity requirement from the board. Besides, permission to set up captive power plants is granted only to consumers (high tension or low tension) of the board who do not owe dues or arrears to it.

The State government has treated the transport sector with equal importance. The total length of roads in the State is 72,416 km. The length of the National Highway in the State is 4,676 km while the State highway extends to 8,099 km. The government has taken up the construction and upgradation of roads in a big way, and about 40,000 km of roads have been constructed by the Bharatiya Janata Party government. The year 2005 was observed as the Year of Roads with the construction of an important road every month. The funds spent in 2007-08 on roads and bridges were six times more than the expenditure in 2002-03.

Some of the major road works include the four-laning of 400 km of National Highways; upgradation of 13 strategic stretches of the State highway, covering 1,871 km, on build-operate-transfer basis; formation of the Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation to spearhead road development; upgradation of key linkages; construction of 4,215 roads linking 7,489 villages under the Prime Ministers Gram Sadak Yojana at an expenditure of Rs.4,769 crore; and construction of inland container depots at Pithampur and Malapur.

The Government of India has sanctioned five road projects Chandrapur-Barwani, Matkuli-Chhindwara, Mandsaur-Sitamau, Bhopal-Dewas and Jawara-Nayagaon at a cost of Rs.1,022 crore.

The government is planning to complete 19 more road projects to encourage development and tourism activities. Under the State Road Improvement Programme, 7,000 km of roads will be taken up for improvement at a cost of Rs.500 crore. The government has also decided to connect 2,574 villages situated at a distance of up to 500 metres from mains road with all-weather roads.

Purnima S. Tripathi
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