Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday launched the Mukhya Mantri Gram Parivahan Yojana to improve connectivity between village panchayats and block headquarters, and at the same time provide employment to over 40,000 youths belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Extremely Backward Castes (EBC).
Under the initiative, a one-of-its-kind scheme in the country, five persons, including three from SC and ST and two from EBC categories in every panchayat of the state, will be given either 50 per cent of the price or Rs 1 lakh by the transport department as grant to buy automobiles.
These vehicles would be used to transport people between panchayats and block headquarters.
The scheme has already been implemented as a pilot project in a village panchayat each in Samastipur and Nalanda districts and Nitish handed over vehicles to a total of nine beneficiaries.
Expressing happiness over implementation of the scheme announced on August 15 by him, Nitish said better roads have been built in rural areas after 2005 because of which people want to walk less now.
“We started the scheme to carry people from villages to blocks. The vehicles would have seating capacity of four to 10 people. Battery operated e-rickshaws should also be included in the scheme, as it would have a positive impact on the environment,” Nitish said while speaking at Samvad Bhavan in Patna.
The chief minister also launched online permit system for goods carriers, as well as, mobile application to know about the timing and location of city ride buses at the function.
Deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, transport minister Santosh Kumar Nirala, chief secretary Deepak Kumar, transport secretary Sanjay Kumar Agarwal and several others were present on the occasion.
Nitish said the number of vehicles were going up in the state and asked the transport department to renovate all bus stands in the state.
“Bus stops will be constructed in all village panchayats and bus stands in all block headquarters,” Nitish said and also invoked the people to follow traffic rules, as not doing so was leading to road accidents.
The chief minister also said that the government will waive off road taxes on those vehicles that are owned and driven by women.
Deputy chief minister Modi said that the number of vehicles registered in Bihar has gone up from 1.47 lakh in 2006-07 to 11.13 lakh in 2017-18 and the revenue has also grown from around Rs 250 crore to Rs 1630 crore during the same period.
