NEW DELHI: The govt on Wednesday approved second phase of Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) for next five years with an outlay of around Rs 7,000 crore. The second phase will cover villages, including the ones close to the borders of Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Sources said the second phase of the scheme will cover border villages across 15 states and two UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The programme has been a runaway success focusing on improving infrastructure and creating the livelihood of the locals. It focuses on encouraging people to stay in their native villages in border areas to reverse the migration from these villages adding to improved security of the border.
The first phase of VVP approved in February 2023 for four years had an outlay of Rs 4,800 crore and it covers 19 districts and 46 border blocks in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and UT of Ladakh. It covers 663 villages and focuses on 100% saturation of central and state govt schemes.
This will help in encouraging people to stay in their native locations in border areas and reversing the outmigration from these villages adding to improved security of the border.
The govt also approved four railway line projects with a total length of 650 km, which will improve connectivity and accelerate economic activities in these regions. The projects are Kharsia to Naya Raipur and Godia to Chanda Fort in Chhattisgarh and multi-tracking of Sambalpur-Jarapada and Jharsuguda-Sason corridors in Odisha.