Digital plans for rural development

Mohali, March 17 

To ensure the overall development of the rural areas, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat has decided to prepare digital plans by conducting surveys. 

Five villages in each district would be covered for the digital survey, said Anurag Verma, Financial Commissioner of the department. 

“This is for the first time that a concrete step for rural development is being taken by conducting digital survey, which will be based on ground reality and serve as a milestone for the overall development of villages,” said Verma.

Notably, various development works such as the construction of streets, drains and paved roads were carried out by villages using their own resources. “Usually, entire village is not considered for such development works which results in disputes among residents. With the initiative, the overall development of the villages could be chalked out,” said Verma.

He said the process to identify the five villages for the purpose was on. Making the project time bound, Verma directed his staff to conduct the survey of five villages after their identification within two months. Under the digital survey, detailed information regarding the conditions of village streets (unpaved, brick paved, concrete and cement block tile streets) and drains in the villages has been sought. 

Similarly, the level of streets and drains should also be mentioned. “The information collected through digital survey will be secured for the future use and can also be mapped with Google map or Bhuvan software,” said Verma. He said the level thus obtained in the digital survey would be utilised for the construction of drains so that the storm water could be easily drained and be routed to the village pond. —TNS