New Delhi, April 24: The Indian government has signed a $210 million loan agreement with the World Bank to improve the rural roads in Madhya Pradesh, an official statement said on Tuesday.
"The project (Madhya Pradesh Rural Connectivity Project) will cover 10,510 km stretch of rural roads in Madhya Pradesh that fall under the Chief Minister's Gram Sadak Yojana (CMGSY) program," said the Finance Ministry in a statement.
The deal, signed between the Central government, Madhya Pradesh government and the World Bank, will improve the durability, resilience and safety of the gravel surfaced rural roads and enhance the capacity of the state to manage its rural roads network, it said.
Of the total roads, 10,000 km will be upgraded from existing gravel to bituminous surface roads, while 510 km of new roads will be built to the same bituminous surface standard, it added.
"Government of India is making all efforts to ensure that communities in the most remote areas across the country are connected through a road network. All weather road connectivity is crucial for economic growth, especially in the rural areas," said Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.
Gravel surfaced roads are more prone to washouts than paved roads during flood seasons. This project will undertake resilience measures such as surface sealing of roads, embankment pitching, and balancing culverts to prevent damages caused by extreme flood events.
World Bank India Acting Country Director Hisham Abdo said: "This project will leverage resources to support innovations in road construction, improve road safety, and reduce carbon footprint in the transport sector by mainstreaming climate resilient technology in road design and construction."
Recognizing that road safety is a critical issue, the project will also strengthen road safety management systems with the objective of reducing fatalities and serious injuries from road accidents, the statement said.
"The project will focus on improving road accident data collection and analysis at central and state levels through implementation of the Road Accident Database Management System (RADMS)," it said.
Further, the state will pilot a comprehensive Road Safety Programme in districts with most fatal and serious injuries recorded in the recent past, it added.
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ED gets MHA sanction to prosecute Arvind Kejriwal in excise policy case
New Delhi (PTI): The Union Home Ministry has granted sanction to the Enforcement Directorate to prosecute former Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy linked money laundering case, officials said.
The federal agency has filed a chargesheet against the 56-year-old politician before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here last year after arresting him in March.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently granted the required sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for prosecuting Kejriwal under the anti-money laundering law in the Delhi excise policy case, officials said.
The development comes ahead of the Delhi Assembly on February 5.
Kejriwal has been made made an accused in his personal capacity as well as in the capacity of being the national convenor of his political party AAP.
The former chief minister was called the "kingpin and key conspirator" of the Delhi excise "scam" by the ED.
It was alleged that he acted in collusion with Delhi government minister, the AAP leaders and others.
The ED had earlier claimed that AAP, being a political party, is defined as an association or a body of individual citizens of India under the Representation of the People Act and hence it can be categorised as a "company" as contemplated under Section 70 of the PMLA.
As Kejriwal was "in-charge of and responsible" for the said company i.e. AAP during the time of offence, he and his party "shall be deemed guilty" of offences mentioned under the anti-money laundering law and liable to be prosecuted and punished, it had said.
The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
Taking cognisance of a CBI FIR lodged on August 17, 2022, the ED filed its money laundering case on August 22, 2022 to probe the alleged irregularities.
