Low Quality of Rural Roads Under PMGSY Remains a Worrying Issue

 

By Dr. Gyan Pathak

The rural roads being constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) are found to be of low quality, their maintenance is poor, and their linkage to actual villages are unsatisfactory, finds the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

In its 17th report for the year (2024-25), the Committee has noted with concern that, in order to win the bid for acquiring the rights for the construction of projects, under PMGSY the contractors often quote 25-30% lower amount than the minimum bidding amount.

The Committee, therefore, has recommended the DoRD to entail all measures for curbing the practice of low bidding and should bring out a mechanism/provision at least by which a certain quantum of amount component equivalent to the difference between bidding and actual quoting is kept aside as security and may be released only after ensuring that the constructed road satisfy the stipulated quality norms.

A fair bidding mechanism is required, the Committee said, to ensure an equitable and transparent process where bidders compete for contracts or opportunities without manipulation or unfair advantages. The Committee also recommend the Government to set up a Committee to assess the effect on quality of road by quoting low amount by the contractors than the minimum bidding amount.

The Committee is constrained to note that the quality of road construction under PMGSY is a glaring issue affecting the whole country and has wider ramification in the lives of rural people. There are many instances wherein the attention of the Committee have been drawn towards the non-compliance of stipulated norms and standards of construction and poor quality of road materials used in the construction of roads at many places which are not able to sustain the rigours of weather and traffic volume even for one season and are washed away with the onset of monsoon.

As for the maintenance of the rural roads constructed under PMGSY, the Committee has found evidence of roads poorly maintained. Design life of the roads is 10 year, then responsibility of the maintenance of roads within Defect Liability Period (DLP) (initial 5 years) falls on the Contractor, while post DLP (next 5 years) is the responsibility of the concerned State Government and the funds for the same need to be provided by the concerned State Governments.

Nevertheless, the Committee noted with concern that the guidelines are not being followed sincerely and the roads constructed under PMGSY at various places suffer from poor maintenance and start getting degraded before 5 years of warranty. Even the monitoring mechanism of the elaborately laid down principle for the maintenance aspect of roads constructed under PMGSY remains a cause of concern.

The Committee expressed its concern to note that the scheme is affected by the malaise of poor maintenance post-construction and after being handed over to the States. The entire effort of constructing quality roads to provide rural connectivity gets marred by inadequate maintenance.

One of the issues regarding the rural roads constructed under PMGSY is their connectivity with the villages and human habitats. The Committee has noted that it came to the fore that roads merely touching the outskirt or periphery of villages without reaching the actual habitation where majority resides.

The Committee observed that this defeats the purpose behind habitation linkage and many needy habitations especially, Desam, Dhanis, Tolas, Majras, Hamlets, etc., are in most of the cases lies at least 2-3 Km inside the periphery of the village and are thus, not getting the benefit of connectivity.

The Committee note that rural roads built under PMGSY are of the mandated thickness of 20 mm. In this era of modernization when industrial setups at far flung areas and the construction works of highways and bridges often necessitate movement of heavy load bearing vehicles, particularly those of NHAI to also utilize the roads built under PMGSY, cause irreversible damages to the rural roads because these are generally low volume roads and were never meant to bear the load of heavy vehicles.

It, thus, becomes imperative, the Committee said, to protect and get repaired the existing roads under PMGSY from the damaging NHAI vehicles and increasing the thickness of roads under PMGSY to 30 mm for bearing the load of heavy vehicles that would keep on plying on them in future.

PMGSY was launched with the aim of providing all-weather road connectivity to unconnected habitations, thereby boosting rural infrastructure and economic development. However, it has been observed that a significant number of projects under PMGSY remain incomplete within their designated timeframe, leading to delays in infrastructure and socio-economic development of the areas. Such delays result in cost overrun, especially the escalation of cost of raw material and labour component.

The Committee found during deliberations with the representatives of the Department and through the on ground reality witnessed during the study visits, the presence of umpteen cases wherein the contractor left the project mid-way or just after start, due to the rising cost of construction owing to delay in projects on account of various logistical issues ranging from non-availability of land clearance to non-release of funds. These obstacles or hindrances have been a significant hurdle in the timely completion of road construction projects, affecting the most disadvantaged and vulnerable rural populace who rely solely on improved connectivity for economic and social mobility.

It should be noted that the Union Government has launched PMGSY-IV is to be implemented during 2024-25 to 2028-29. However, the Committee, have expressed concern that the PMGSY-IV road survey is currently based on the obsolete 2011 Census, which does not reflect the present population, settlement expansions, and evolving infrastructure needs.

The Committee has also flagged poor coordination between the Centre and States. It pointed out that the scheme was launched in 2000 as a 100 per cent centrally sponsored scheme but it was revised in 2015-16 on the basis of 60:40 ratio between the Centre and States, barring eight North Eastern States and three Himalayan States where it is 90:10 ratio. It noted that many projects are delayed because non-release of funds in time from the Centre. (IPA Service)

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