13,733km of rural roads laid in three yrs in TN

Chennai: Tamil Nadu govt on Monday said 13,733km of roads in rural areas were laid in the past three years.

A total of 18,899km roads, along with 83 bridges, were sanctioned at a cost of 9,030 crore. So far, projects worth 5,219 crore have been completed, including 22 bridges.

The state govt said in the last three years, a total of 10.11 lakh families benefited from the Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS), and a total of 34,609 crore was given as wages to them. Of the beneficiaries, 86.26% were women. In the current year, the scheme is being implemented at a cost of 6,359 crore.

Under the Jal Jeevan scheme, water connection was given to 71.5 lakh households at a cost of 2,123 crore in the past three years. The pipelines were laid as per the BIS 10500 standards. In 2021, TN was given third prize by the Jal Shakti ministry for providing drinking water supply to rural areas, the state govt said.

As far as rural housing was concerned, 3.3lakh housing units were constructed under the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (Rural), in Tamil Nadu in the past three years. Under the scheme, a total of 7.38lakh houses were sanctioned for Tamil Nadu from 2016-17 till Oct 2024. Under the previous AIADMK regime, only 2.89lakh houses were constructed, the release said.