The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, chaired a meeting of the Committee on Rural Infrastructure to review the implementation of projects under Bharat Nirman, here today. The review meeting covered the six areas under which projects are being implemented in building rural infrastructure, namely, irrigation, drinking water and rural water supply, rural roads, rural electrification, rural housing and rural telephony. The various ministries of the Central Government dealing with these subjects made presentations on project implementation upto March 2006. The meeting also discussed the methodology for project monitoring.

The meeting emphasized the need for adequate funding of Bharat Nirman programmes by Central and State Governments in the next financial year. It expressed satisfaction with the pace of implementation of programmes under rural telephony, rural housing, irrigation and electrification. It was also felt that Bharat Nirman should pay more attention to rural capacity building, especially where rural communities were expected to play a role in implementation of programmes. It was also suggested that self-help groups and non-government organizations should be mobilized to support Bharat Nirman programmes to enable community ownership of programme implementation.

The Prime Minister emphasized the need for constant monitoring of project implementation and underlined the importance of setting "realistic goals" that could be met within stipulated time.

The meeting was attended by Union Ministers of Finance, Agriculture, Rural Development, Water Resources, Power, Panchayat Raj, Non-Conventional energy sources, Deputy Chairman and Members, Planning Commission, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister and other officials.