Under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister Raman Singh, Chhattisgarh has made rapid progress in laying of roads, railway lines, telecommunications and electricity facilities in the state. In fact, development of infrastructure has been a priority area of the state government.
Expansion of road network
About 59,136 km of roads have been laid and upgraded during the past 12 years. In all, 852 major, 337 medium and 23,206 small bridges have been constructed in the past 12 years. Fifteen railway over-bridges and under-bridges have been built. Fifteen by-pass routes have been laid in Chhattisgarh. Eighteen roads measuring 1,005 km had been laid under the ADB plan. Under the NABARD scheme, 459 roads and 174 small bridges have been constructed.
Under the Corridor Scheme, six routes measuring up to 2,230 km have been laid. Under the “Aledbulai” yojana, 19 roads measuring up to 2,021 km have been laid at a cost of Rs 2,905 crore. Twenty-one roads are under various stages of completion. Under the N.C.D.P. scheme, an amount of Rs 5,500 crore had been sanctioned to lay 1,006 km roads. There has been rapid progress on 557 km roads worth Rs 3,300 crore. There is a proposal to lay 1,000 km roads worth Rs 5,000 crore. In another two years, 146 roads measuring up to 6,000 km will be laid on a priority basis. The works will entail an investment of Rs 42,000 crore. The total length of roads is about 32,232 kilometer, out of which 3,073 km falls under National Highways, 4,374 km state highways, 11,111 kilometer district roads and 13,674 kilometer rural roads project.
Railways network
The railway network covers a mere 1,187 km in Chhattisgarh. The average railway network is less than half of the national averages. Efforts are being made to expand the network after the formation of Chhattisgarh.
Many projects had been sanctioned during the past two years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown keen interest in the development of Chhattisgarh and works on 1,300 km new railway lines are progressing at a rapid pace. The new railway corridor East Corridor Kharsia-Dharamjaigarh-Korba is 180 km long. The total expenditure will be Rs 4,000 crore.
The East-West Corridor Gowra-Pendraroad’s length is 122 km. It will entail an expenditure of Rs 3,500 crore. The Raoghat Corridor’s length is 235 km. The total expenditure is Rs 4,000 crore. The total length is 537 km and will entail an expenditure of Rs 11,500 crore. The Union government has sanctioned several new railway tracks on the proposals of Chhattisgarh, including the Raipur-Balodabazar-Jharsuguda railway line of 310 km, the Chirmiri-Ambikapur-Barwadih (Jharkhand) of 182 km, the Dongragarh-Khairagarh-Kawardha-Barwadih railway line of 270 km. The Mumbai-Kharagpur East-West Corridor Frontier Railway Corridor will pass thorough Chhattisgarh. The railways had a network of mere 1,187 km during the past 150 years and in the next five years, Chhattisgarh will add another 1,300 km.
Information network
The state government’s target is to link all Gram Panchayats to Internet connectivity by 2018. Services of the state government will be provided online to all the villages. About 146 mobile towers have been installed in the interiors of Bastar and Surguja. Mobile signals are already available on these towers. The towers had been installed at a cost of Rs 200 crore. The Union government had sanctioned 2,000 new mobile towers to be installed in the state. Moves are afoot to increase the capacity of the active towers.
