The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas. Under the project, construction or upgradation of 5,411.81 km road and 126 bridges/Cross Drainage works will be taken up at an estimated cost of ₹11,724.53 crore.

According to an official statement, “The project will be implemented as a vertical under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) to provide connectivity with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures in 44 worst affected LWE districts and adjoining districts, critical from the security and communications point of view. The roads will be operable throughout the year irrespective of weather conditions.”

The fund sharing pattern will be same as that of PMGSY — in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and States for all States except for eight North Eastern and three Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10.

The Finance Ministry will allocate ₹7,034.72 crore to the Rural Development Ministry for this project during the period of implementation 2016-17 to 2019-20. The project will be implemented from 2016-17 to 2019-20.

The statement also noted that the scheme will focus on 35 districts worst affected by Left wing extremism. As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, these districts account for 90 per cent of total LWE violence in the country and the nine adjoining districts are critical from the security angle.

The roads taken up under the scheme would include Other District Roads (ODRs), Village Roads (VRs) and upgradation of the existing Major District Roads (MDRs) that are critical from the security point of view. Bridges up to a span of 100 meters, critical from the security angle, would also be funded on these roads.

Nod for solar alliance In another decision the Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval to the proposal of Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) for ratification of International Solar Alliance Framework Agreement by India. ISA was jointly launched by the Prime Minister of India and the President of France on November 30 at Paris on the side-lines of the 21st CoP meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The ISA will strive to bring together more than 121 solar resource rich nations for coordinated research, low cost financing and rapid deployment. The foundation stone of the ISA Headquarters was laid at Gwal Pahari, Gurugram in Haryana.

India has already committed the required support of operationalisation of ISA. ISA will put India globally in a leadership role in climate and renewable energy issues. It will also give a platform to showcase its solar programmes.

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