Monday, May 16 2005 22:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Offering a new deal to rural India, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (May 16, 2005) approved an ambitious 'Bharat Nirman' project to be implemented at a cost of Rs 1,74,000 crore over four years.

Described by Singh as the "most important initiative of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government", the project will cover six critical areas of rural infrastructure.

The project, cleared at a meeting of Committee on Rural Infrastructure chaired by the Prime Minister, will bring an additional one crore hectares under assured irrigation and connect all villages that have a population of 1000 (or 500 in hilly, tribal areas) with a road, an official spokesman said.

The project also entails construction of 60 lakh houses for the poor, provide drinking water to over 74,000 new habitations, reach electricity to 1,25,000 villages that still lack such facility, offer electricity connection to 2.3 crore households and give telephone connectivity to remaining 66,822 villages.

"Bharat Nirman will emphasise outcomes and not just outlays," the Prime Minister said.

He asked the implementing Ministries and State Governments to improve the Government's "absorptive capacity" so that the "system does not become a constraint on our ability to deliver".

Singh said that the project should be implemented with a sense of urgency and dedication at all levels of Government.

The meeting was also attended by Ministers of Finance P Chidambaram, Rural Development Raghuvans Prasad, Power P M Sayeed, Panchayati Raj Mani Shankar Aiyar and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.