After more than 70 years, my grandmother saw a motor in our village, GhatiBilwan. Every third household has a tragic story to tell. Every family has only one wish to ask from the Almighty Road. A family lost two of their daughters-in-law during the time of delivery as there was no road, hence no ambulance could enter the village. Here are many such painful memories that often scared everyone of us, stated District CouncellorAnu Rana of GhatiBelwan in Himachal.
The roads now in the remotest of the villages in Himachal are smooth and all weather-friendly. In the last four years, Himachal Pradesh has connected 10591 villages with road facilities. Not only that, but these roads are motorized, allowing anyone to access transportation in an emergency.People, while meeting Industries, Transport, Labor, and Employment Minister Bikram Singh Thakur, get emotional while addressing their issues with him.
The Daily Guardian met with people from different villages. People from different walks of life came before and shared their past plight with us. One of them, Adarsh Rana from Kaza village, stated that there was a time when we had to walk miles to avail medical facilities and then often people left at the back of the family used to pray for the survival of their kin who were sick during the journey.
About 2,278 bridges have been constructed. The state government, in a span of just over four years, has constructed over 3527 kilometres of motorable roads and 268 kilometres of jeepable roads in Himachal Pradesh.
MLA Bikram Thakur, while talking to TDG, stated, “To ensure development of rural areas, the state government has re-organised Gram Panchayats and to provide road connectivity in the newly created Panchayats, all efforts are being made. The number of Gram Panchayats has increased to 3615 as a result of the re-organization of Panchayats. Out of these, 3556 Panchayats are connected to the road. Out of the remaining 59 Panchayats, 20 will be connected to the road in 2022-23.”
As per official data, from 2019 till December 2021, as many as 219 villages were connected with roads having a population of more than 1500, 296 villages having a population of 1000 to 1499, 1324 villages having a population of 500 to 999, 3655 villages having a population of 250 to 499, and 5097 villages having a population of below 250 have been connected with roads.
As many as 19 National Highways with a total length of 2592 kilometres were the lifelines of the State Road Network, out of which 1238 kilometres were being maintained and developed by the HP Public Works Department.
Under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund-NABARD, 68 bridges and 498 kilometres of roads have been constructed in the state. Under the Central Road and Infrastructure Fund (CRIF), 28 bridges have been constructed and a road length of 65.8 kilometres has been upgraded in the state.
The state has received various awards for the successful implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY). In the year 2020–21, Mandi secured the first position for the construction of the longest road length under PMGSY. Other districts, viz., Solan, Chamba, Shimla, Kangra, Una, Sirmaur, and Hamirpur, were also included in the top 30 districts for work under PMGSY. Himachal Pradesh achieved the best performing status for the construction of a 1104 kilometre road till October 23, 2020 under PMGSY.