Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Union Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Giriraj Singh on February 22, 2022, released Rural Connectivity GIS Data in Public Domain. This includes GIS data for 8,,00,000+ rural facilities as points, 1 Million+ habitations, and 25,00,000+ km of rural roads which have been collected and digitised using the GIS platform developed for the PMGSY scheme.
NRIDA, the nodal implementation agency of the PMGSY scheme, signed MoU with 3 renowned GIS Firms ESRI India, MapmyIndia, and DataMeet, and collaborated with Gati Shakti for releasing the Rural Connectivity GIS Data in Public Domain, according to a PIB release.
Giriraj recalled that since the inception of the PMGSY scheme, more than 6.90 lakh km of roads have been constructed connecting 1,61,508 habitations with an expenditure of Rs 2.69 lakh crore. The pace of construction of rural roads under PMGSY has seen massive growth during the last seven years and emphasis has been given to new technology resulting in a saving of about Rs 5,000 crore.
The Minister informed that the data made available in the public domain can be beneficial to the startups, entrepreneurs, businesses, civil society, academics, and other government departments to build products, conduct research, plan investments, improve service delivery, and quick disaster response. Giriraj recalled the Prime Minister’s vision of “AtmaNirbhar Bharat” and said that it can be achieved only by developing rural India by use of rural infrastructure data now available with the government, according to a PIB release.
N N Sinha, Secretary (RD,) informed that the rural infrastructure GIS data will help in bridging the gap between urban and rural India and transform India into Atmanirbhar Bharat. He also envisioned that the drones can be utilised for the delivery of essential commodities including vaccine once all the addresses are digitised on the portal.
Dr Ashish Kumar Goel, AS (RD) & DG, NRIDA, in his keynote address, informed that PMGSY scheme has played a massive role in the development of rural India and the PMGSY logo has become a symbol of quality and sustainability. He said that under new technology, more than 1,00,000 km of roads have been sanctioned till date and under PMGSY-III, 50% of the roads have been sanctioned under new/green technology. For sanctioning, execution, maintenance, and complaint redressal of these roads, NRIDA has made use of IT assets such as OMMAS, GEOSADAK, GePNIC, eMARG and MeriSadak.
Goel said that the MoU signed with the three partners on GIS data can be used in the business application for the benefit of the nation as a whole. He also informed that the Ministry will be shortly launching a hackathon with the help of the DataMeet organisation where the use of data released today can be used for the data visualisation, policy research, and other products, with the overall objective of improving rural economy and ease of living.
The launch of GIS data was followed by a technical session where presentations were made by ESRI India, MapmyIndia, DataMeet, Gati Shakti, and CDAC Pune.
