Centre committed to achieve targets under Bharat Nirman: Raghuvansh

New Delhi, Mar 21 (UNI) The government is committed to the fulfillment of the goals of the Bharat Nirman by achieving the targets of rural connectivity, rural housing and water supply, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh informed the Rajya Sabha today.

The Ministry of Rural Development is planning to connect 66,802 habitations with 1.46 km of roads and upgrade 1.94 lakh Km of the existing through routes for which Rs 11000 crore has been proposed in the budget 2007-08, he said.

In a written reply on the Satus of implementation of the components of Bharat Nirman relating to his ministry, Dr Singh said that till now 10,303 habitations have been connected and upgradation of 36341 km of through routes has been done.

The government has put in place a three-tier quality monitoring system to ensure proper quality of construction. Moreover, for ensuring transparency in management of the programme, online management monitoring accounting system and technical audit system have also been developed, he said.

He said under the Indira Awas Yojna more than 24 lakh houses have been constructed during the last two years to reduce shelterlessness in the country. Under Bharat Nirman, 60 lakh houses have been proposed to be constructed for rural poor in four years.

Under the Rural Drinking Water Sypply component it was proposed to provide 55067 uncovered habitation with safe drinking water by 2009.

About 1,63,539 habitation and 1,12,965 schools have so far been provided with safe drinking water during the past two years, he informed UNI