1800 km- long road in Punjab to be upgraded, says Ramesh

Amritsar, May 11(ANI): Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Friday that the Centre would upgrade the 1,800 km-long road in Punjab within a year under the Prime Minister's Road Scheme.

Ramesh, who is on a two-day visit to Punjab, said that on the demand of state government, legislators and lawmakers, the government would mull over relaxing the norms of the scheme in the border areas.

"I expect that in coming few months, we will grant permission to upgrade 1,800 kilometres road in Punjab," Ramesh told reporters in Amritsar.

He added that in order to develop the infrastructure in rural areas, they would also include villages with population of 500 under the Prime Minister's Road Scheme.

"Villages with population of 500 are included in the Prime Minister Road Scheme. But demands have come that this norm should be relaxed for border areas because these are small settlements in the region," added Ramesh.

The minister said the government might increase subsidy for the construction of toilets.

"We should make toilet available to every family. We are going to introduce major changes in the toilet programme. We provide subsidy up to Rs. 3,500-4000 but we are going to increase it," added Ramesh. (ANI)