Chandigarh, March 9 -- Finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, in the budget announcement on Sunday, said Rs.7,606 crore has been earmarked for 2026-27 to upgrade 19,876 km of rural roads through the Mandi Board and the Public Works Department. "The funds include a five-year maintenance clause. In addition to road infrastructure, strengthening mandi infrastructure is also being undertaken to support farmers and agricultural marketing," the FM said. Cheema further said that the state has an extensive rural link road network of over 68,000 km, and at present, 40,103 km of damaged roads are undergoing repair and upgradation at a total cost of Rs.12,597 crore under various programmes, including NABARD-assisted projects. "This is the largest road upgradation programme undertaken in the state's history by any government within a single year," he informed the House. Cheema said in the current financial year, modernisation works covering 8,325 km are being undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs.2,393 crore to improve connectivity to mandis and rural markets. Rs.1,500 crore for MGNREGA Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the government has set aside a budget of Rs.1,500 crore for the upcoming financial year. "In the current year, expenditure of nearly Rs.1,100 crore has been incurred under this scheme, generating 223 lakh man-days of employment. The government remains committed to implementation of the scheme in its original spirit," the FM added. From 2017 to March 2022, nearly 39,000 houses have been completed under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin) in Punjab and after our government assumed office, this pace was decisively accelerated, Cheema said. A total of 76,000 families have been provided with housing support during this year, including 30,000 flood-affected families. Building on this momentum, the government proposes to cover another one lakh houses under PMAY (Gramin) in FY 2026-27, for which an allocation of Rs.800 crore has been earmarked....