The Congress-led ruling UPA is for aam aadmi (common man) and they mostly live in villages. Most of the flagship programmes with huge allocations are aimed at providing succour to them. But now a thought has struck the minds of policy makers in the government that people should pay user charges for using rural roads.
Welcoming a suggestions made by rural development ministry, which is nodal agency for implementing Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY), on tolling such roads, deputy chairman of planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said, the idea is good, as it would provide sufficient funds to ensure their upkeep.
The suggestion to this effect came this morning from a senior RD ministry official, who highlighted the plight of the rural roads on account of heavy traffic, which impacted them. “So the government should evolve some system to generate resources to repair and sometime redevelopment the rural roads,” he reasoned. Mr Ahluwalia addressing a function on state highways, said, “Primarily tolling could begin by charging heavy vehicle that uses rural roads. We could put some toll tax on using rural roads. Though it would not generate much revenue but it would discourage heavy vehicles from using rural roads.”