JAIPUR: Minister of state for road transport and highways, shipping, chemical and fertilizers Mansukh L Mandaviya in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Monday said that the government has allocated a whopping Rs 2314.22 crore for the development of national highways in Rajasthan in the last five out of which the maximum amount of Rs 1015.37 crore was allocated in 2016-17.

According to the data released by the ministry, the funds have apparently been allocated as per the need as in 2012-13, it was Rs 12.24 crore which increased to Rs 215.50 crore in 2014 but dipped in 2015 with only Rs 107.16 crore but saw a massive jump in the following years with Rs 849.95 crore allocated in 2016 and Rs 1015.37 crore in 2017.

The minister also elaborated that apart from allocating funds for the development of the national highways, the ministry has also given funds separately for the maintenance as well as repair of these highways over the years and till now Rs 612.23 crore have been allocated for it. In Rajasthan the allocated funds are being used for 9341.8 kilometres of national highways going through various districts in the state and the longest stretch is of 878 kilometres for Pathankot- Ganganagar- Bikaner- Jaisalmer- Barmer- Kandala encompassing districts Ganganagar, Hanumangarh-Bikaner, Jaisalmer and Barmer

Apart from this, the ministry also allocates funds for development of state roads (non- rural) under the Central Road Fund (CRF) Scheme and Economic Importance and Inter-State Connectivity (EI& ISC) as per provisions of the CRF Act, 2000 amended by the Finance Act from time to time.

