Government riders hampering road projects in Himanchal: Minister

DHARAMSALA - The central government’s direcctive on depositing the net present value (NPV) of forest land that is diverted is hampering 194 road projects under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in Himachal Pradesh, a minister said Saturday.

Replying to a discussion on the last day of the state assembly session, Public Works Minister Gulab Singh Thakur said: “Proposals for 194 road projects have been held up by the central government during the past nine months as the NPV involves a huge amount of money which the state is unable to bear.”

“As per the conditions, the state government should first deposit at least 10 percent of the project cost as NPV with the government that would be deposited in the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) fund. Only after this, the project cost is released to the state.

“The state has been able to make provision of NPV amount of Rs.15.5 crore for 82 road projects under the PMGSY. The money for the rest of projects is yet to be deposited by the state after which the amount for the PMGSY roads would be released by the central government,” he said.

The minister informed the assembly that it was after the Supreme Court decision in 2006 that all states were supposed to deposit NPV for PMGSY projects where as there was no provision for the funds of NPV under it till then.

Thakur said the state government would try to deposit NPV in a phased manner so that the road projects could be completed on time.