PM's
Raths to be doubled to cover 2.55 lakh panchayats
In order to reach out to all 2.55 lakh
panchayats covering 6.64 lakh villages across the country to promote the Prime
Minister's welfare schemes, the number of Raths (buses) are to be doubled now.
Earlier, it was decided that 1500 buses will be needed to complete the task
within the next 70 days. But under the revised estimate, more than 2500 buses
will be pressed into service. It also emerged that one Rath will not be
able to cover three panchayats in a day but only two. One Nodal Officer is
deployed and supporting manpower are traveling in each of the Rath to interact,
resolve their problems on the spot and promote the PM's various welfare
schemes. The PM launched the Rath Yatra Yatra on November 15 in
Jharkhand and the process has to be completed on January 24 next year i.e.
within 70 days. Effectively, there will be 55-60 working days available to each
of the Rath under a Nodal Officer. It has been decided after a thorough review
that more buses have to be deployed to meet the 70-day deadline.
A hi-tech monitoring room has been set
up in the Rural Development ministry here which is connected to all these 1500
buses currently. This will be upgraded to connect to 2500 buses now. The
government officials working directly under Amit Khare, Prime Minister's Adviser
in the PMO, have to ensure that Nodal Officers enroll new beneficiaries if they
have been left out of schemes and have to redress grievances
on-the-spot. These raths are equipped with GPS and drones, these
specially-designed Raths have LED display screens and pre-loaded audio-visual
content to highlight major schemes. The objective is to create awareness
about the benefits of welfare schemes like sanitation facilities, essential
financial services, electricity connections, access to LPG cylinders, housing
for the poor, food security, proper nutrition, reliable healthcare, clean
drinking water, etc.
