The Yogi Adityanath-led Government of Uttar Pradesh has ordered the connection of all villages in the state with the public transport network.
There are still more than 4,500 villages that are not connected to the public transport network. These villages will benefit under the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) government's initiative.
The UP government has set December as the deadline to connect all the villages in the state with the public transport network.
In a tweet, the Government of UP said, "Under the leadership of UP CM Mr Yogi Adityanath Ji, the state government is working to connect every village with the transport network on a war-footing. The target is to connect all unserved villages with the transport network by December."
The exact number of villages to benefit from the initiative is 4,593, according to UP Transport Minister Dayashankar Singh.
Singh has been quoted as saying that the criteria to consider a village connected to the public transport network would be that a village would be within 1 km of a designated transport medium.
A survey has been ordered in every district and the report would be filed by October 10, following which the work to establish connections would start, according to Hindustan Times.
"This statement came from the minister post a meeting of transport department officials and roadways and transport corporation officials headed by principal secretary, transport, M. Venkateshwar Lu, wherein it was decided that a survey be conducted in every district, so that the unserved villages may be identified. Two teams have been constituted in every district for this survey and the reports will be submitted to the department authorities by October 10," reported HT.
"While conducting the terrestrial survey and proposing the creation of a route [to connect the village], it should be kept in mind that only villages at a maximum distance of 1 kilometre from the concerned route will be considered serviced. Separate bus services will be operated for villages beyond this distance..... If the route is not motorable, the reasons for the same should be mentioned in detail in the report," Singh was quoted as saying.
