Centre clears nearly Rs 1000 cr rural road project for Gujarat

New Delhi: At a time when Narendra Modi and Congress are engaged in a war of words, the Centre has cleared a rural road project worth nearly Rs 1000 crore for Gujarat. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has conveyed to the Gujarat chief minister in a letter that his ministry is sanctioning Rs 970 crore to the state for building 919 rural roads. Gujarat will have to spend about Rs 22 crore.

The project has been sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri Grameen Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). It was sanctioned after an empowered committee at the Rural Development Ministry went through the proposals sent by the Gujarat government. The committee has insisted that the state government should ensure that citizen information boards are displayed in local language and the board should be placed in a prominent location in the benefitted habitation for each road works being executed under the programme. The announcement was made even as Modi and Congress have been engaged in war of words. Modi yesterday attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on his Independence Day address. Congress hit back sharply with its leaders calling him a "national embarrassment" and a proverbial frog just out of the well, groping for a right place. PTI