5

RURAL ROADS
J.K. Mohapatra and B.P. Chandrasekhar

A community without roads does not have a way out

A poor man, Juncal, Ecuador
If we get the road, we would get everything else, community
centre, employment, post-office, telephone
A young woman, Little Bay, Jamaica
Many of the poor communities are isolated by distance, bad
road conditions, lack of or broken bridges and inadequate
transport. These conditions make it difficult for people to get
their goods to market and themselves to place of work, to handle
health emergencies, to send children to school, and to obtain
public services.
Narayan et al. 2000

INTRODUCTION

ural Road connectivity is a key component of rural

development, since it promotes access to economic
and social services, thereby generating increased
agricultural productivity, non-agriculture employment as well
as non-agricultural productivity, which in turn expands rural
growth opportunities and real income through which poverty
can be reduced.
A study (Fan et al. 1999) carried out by the International
Food Policy Research Institute on linkages between government
expenditure and poverty in rural India has revealed that an
investment of Rs 1 crore in roads lifts 1650 poor persons
above the poverty line. Public investment on roads impacts
rural poverty through its effect on improved agricultural
productivity, higher non-farm employment opportunities and
increased rural wages. Improvement in agricultural productivity
not only reduces rural poverty directly by increasing income
of poor households, it also causes decline in poverty indirectly
by raising agricultural wages and lowering food prices (since
poor households are net buyers of foodgrains). Similarly,

increased non-farm employment and higher rural wages also

enhance incomes of the rural poor and consequently, reduce
rural poverty. This study estimated that while the productivity
effect of government spending on rural roads accounts for
24 per cent of total impact on poverty, increased non-farm
employment accounts for 55 per cent and higher rural wages
accounts for the remaining 31 per cent. Further, of the total
productivity effect on poverty, 75 per cent arises from the
direct impact of roads in increasing incomes, while the
remaining 25 per cent arises from lower food prices (15 per
cent) and increased wages (10 per cent). Similar results are
found in other developing countries. The study by the same
institute (Fan et al. 2000)) in China revealed that with every
10,000 Yuan (about $1200) spent on rural roads eleven
persons are lifted above the poverty line. Living Standard
Survey in Vietnam in 2002 showed that populations living
within 2 km of all-weather roads have lower poverty rates as
noted in the draft Vision Document for Rural Roads, 2006
(MoRD, 2006).
Statistical evidence apart, the link between poverty and lack
of accessibility is quite apparent. Nearer home, a household
survey (APERP, 1997) conducted in the state of Andhra
Pradesh indicated that the rural road improvements lead to
substantial reduction in freight charges, increase in household
income, more employment opportunities, and expansion of
cultivated land as shown in Figures 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3.

STATUS OF RURAL ROADS IN INDIA

Roads are classified under a time-honoured system into
National Highways (NHs), State Highways (SHs), Major
District Roads (MDRs), Other District Roads (ODRs), and
Village Roads (VRs), with well-recognized standards for
construction and maintenance laid out in respect of each

India Infrastructure Report 2007

Annual Average Income and Expenditure per Household
30000

Rupees

25000
20000
15000
10000
5000
0

Connected

Unconnected
Annual Average Expenditure in Rs

Annual Average Income in Rs

Fig. 5.1 Comparative Average Income and Expenditure of

Connected and Unconnected Villages

Rupees Quintal per Km

Average Goods Transportation Cost

3
Badly Maintained
Roads
2

All Weather Roads

in Good Condition

Fair-Weather
Roads

Fig.5.2 Goods Transportation Cost on Different Types of Roads

Impacts of Improvement on Roads
25%

6%

10%
14%

24%

Bringing outside Teachers

Bringing outside Doctors
Purchase of more fertilizers

21%

Expansion of cultivated land

More seasonal work opportunities
Higher intensity of cultivation

Fig. 5.3 Impact on Standard of Living from Improvement on Roads

category. Generally speaking, there are clearly understood

demarcations of responsibility in terms of governmental offices
expected to deal with each category. However, while the activity
mapping with respect to NHs and SHs is clear cut, with respect
to MDRs, ODRs, and VRs, these distinctions are blurred.
In many states, though PRIs are assigned responsibilities with
respect to ODRs and VRs, a plethora of agencies and line
departments undertake formation and repairs of roads. These
include the state governments PWD wing, the Agricultural
Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs), parallel bodies
created by multilateral agencies, Forest department, Development
authorities and so on.
There are several general funds that are used for roads,
apart from special schemes tied to specific road projects. Thus
roads are repaired using Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana

(SGRY), scarcity relief funds, and untied funds devolved by

States. Consequently, it is difficult, if not impossible, to assess
the exact amount that is being spent for the maintenance
and construction of ODRs and VRs. The overlapping of
responsibilities and the fragmentation of funds between
agencies for maintenance and development of roads is a source
of inefficiency and confusion. Quite often, the only point
where all these responsibilities and funds converge is at the
level of the local implementing officer, the Assistant Executive
Engineer, who is used by all agencies named above for
implementation. This thinly spread management structure is
inefficient; it does not ensure good monitoring or downward
accountability and unnecessarily complicates planning.
India has a rural road network of about 2.7 million km
developed with an investment of almost Rs 35,000 crore,
estimated to have a replacement value of about Rs 180,000
crore. This constitutes over 80 per cent of the total road
network, however, about a million km length of the road
does not meet the technical standards required. According to
government statistics, by year 2000, India had connectivity
to almost all villages with populations of over 1500, 86 per
cent with 1000 to 1500 inhabitants, and 43 per cent of villages
with less than 1000 population (Figure 5.4).
Successive plans aimed at achieving higher road densities
and managed to over achieve it (Table 5.1). Even though,
the total length of rural roads targetted at the end of the
Lucknow Plan appeared to be large, it must be noted that
almost 100,000 km of the roads were constructed under
different employment generation schemes and poverty
alleviation programmes such as Food for Work, National Rural
Employment Programme and Jawahar Rojgar Yojana. The
roads were of indifferent quality constructed by unskilled
labour. The objective of these programmes was provision of
sustenance support to the rural people. The technical standards
of asset quality were not insisted upon and construction was
often restricted to earthen tracks with no provision even for
Number of villages connected (%)

110

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
By 1980

By 1985

By 1990

By 1995

By 2000

Village Population
>1500

10001500

<1000

Fig. 5.4 Connectivity Status

Source: Planning Commission & MoRD (2006).

Total

Rural Roads

111

Table 5.1
Basis for assessment, assessed targets and expected densities in the Road Development Plans.
Name of the Plan

Basis of fixation of targets

Nagpur Plan
(194361)

Length of ODRs + VRs

assessed on the basis of number of
villages with population 500 and less,
5011000, 10012000, and 20015000.
Length based on the number of villages
with population less than 500,
5001000, 10002000, and 20005000
Length assessed on the basis of number
of villages and towns.

Bombay Plan
(196181)
Lucknow Plan
(198101)

cross drainage or side drainage. Since water is the main enemy

of the sustainability of roads, roads constructed under such
employment generation schemes were often not durable.
Rural roads have suffered greatly due to lack of systematic
planning. While rural road development plans provided for
a network structure and target lengths of different types of
roads, specific connectivity requirements of individual settlements
(villages/habitation) and issues of regional imbalances were
not adequately addressed. This led to more than one connection
for the same village resulting in redundancy and development
of a large unmanageable network. While constructing rural
roads, adequate care was not taken in adopting need based
designs, parameters for pavement construction, quality
assurance, and quality control. Multiplicity of organizations
involved in the rural roads development led to uncoordinated
efforts, adhoc decisions, and a lopsided network structure.

Gaps in the Planning Process

The planning of the network structure was not taken seriously.
The structure of the network was not subjected to evaluation
through the assessment of indices concerning accessibility,
connectivity, circuitry and so on. Though the conceptual plans
and targets had been worked out, the absence of detailed work
plans resulted in a non-integrated network, with several missing
links and critical bridges. This invariably resulted in the loss
of mobility due to discontinuities in the network and forced
circuitous journeys. During the development of the roads
interfaces among the hierarchical roads were not properly
addressed, resulting in deficiency in the functionality and
efficiency of the total network.

Need for Integrated Network Development

Conceptually, traffic flows from the lower order settlements
to the higher ones in pursuit of opportunities. If planning
fails to capture this phenomenon with appropriate integration

Targets
km

Achievement
km

Target density
(All roads)

332,335

500,802

0.32 km per sq km

651,780

912,684

0.46 km per sq km

2,189,000

2,994,000

0.82 km per sq km

of roads, the total system suffers often resulting in undesirable

ruralurban migration. Investments are concentrated only in
the higher order roads for construction and maintenance with
rural roads receiving less priority than they deserve. Rural
households are deprived of their legitimate right to basic
access. This calls for policies and programmes that aim at
developing an integrated network with due priorities and
necessary interfaces.
In the context of rural roads, a higher degree of care is
required at the planning stage to integrate connectivity needs
of scattered settlements. The construction of a road connecting
a habitation must be augmented by means of transportation,
enhanced by appropriate facility creation in health, education
and so on. The utility of the network can be best appreciated
with such integration of accessibility with social infrastructure.
Keeping this in mind, the central government constituted the
National Rural Roads Development Committee (NRRDC)
in January 2000. The report of NRRDC 2000 resulted in
the formulation of the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
(PMGSY) with an aim to provide all-weather roads to almost
all rural habitations in the country (MoRD 2000).

PRADHAN MANTRI GRAM SADAK YOJANA

Launching and Operationalization of PMGSY
Based on the recommendations of NRRDC the GOI
launched the PMGSY on 25 December 2000 under the
Ministry of Rural Development, as a 100 per cent centrally
sponsored scheme. Fifty per cent of the cess on high speed
diesel was earmarked for financing this scheme. The primary
objective of PMGSY is to provide connectivity, by way of allweather roads (with necessary culverts and cross drainage
structures operable throughout the year) to unconnected
habitations in the rural areas in such a way that habitations
with populations of 1000 persons and above are covered in
three years (20003) and all unconnected habitations with a

112

India Infrastructure Report 2007

Box 5.1
The Concept and Utility of Core Network

The DRRP is a compendium of the existing and proposed road network system in the district which clearly identifies the proposed
roads for connecting the yet unconnected habitations to already connected habitations or all-weather roads, in an economically
efficient way. While selecting the connectivity to the unconnected habitation by single all weather road, optimization principle is
applied through Utility Value and Road Index for linkage of the selected habitation with an already connected habitation.
The Core Network (CN) is a subset of DRRP and represents the minimum network that ensures connectivity to all the eligible
habitations through single all weather roads. This enables continuity with the nearest market centre (either existing or a potential one).
This network is the minimum network that is to be kept in good condition. It consists of identified link routes and through routes.
Link Route: Link Routes are the roads connecting a single habitation or a group of habitations to through routes or district roads
leading to market centres.
Through Route: Through routes are the roads which collect traffic from several link roads or a long chain of habitations and lead
it to marketing centres either directly or through the higher category of roads.
Source: Ministry of Rural Development.

population of 500 persons and above by the end of the Tenth

Plan Period (2007). In respect of the Hill States (North-East,
Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttaranchal)
and the Desert Areas (as identified in the Desert Development
Programme) as well as the Tribal (Schedule V) areas the
objective would be to connect habitations with population
of 250 persons and above.
Detailed guidelines were issued to all the states for the
implementation of PMGSY, identifying state nodal agencies,
Executing agencies, and Programme Implementation Units
(PIUs). Guidelines also envisaged the setting up of State
Level Standing Committees (SLSCs) for monitoring and
coordinating programme implementation. Guidelines were
provided for project preparation, scrutiny, tendering, execution,
quality management, monitoring of the project, maintenance,
as well as procedures for fund flow.

starting point of the exercise. The Core Network will be the

basic instrument for prioritization of construction, upgradation,
and allocation of funds for maintenance.
The concept of DRRP and CN are important to achieve
network efficiency (Box 5.1). A typical Block map with
DRRP and Core Network are shown in Figures 5.5 and 5.6
respectively.

Quality Control System

Under the PMGSY, quality is sought to be ensured through
a three-tier Quality Control System, in which the Executing
District Rural Roads Plan
Simdega Block, Simdega District, Jharkhand
N
E

W
S
Katasaru
Lelong
Gondalipani

Institutional Development under PMGSY

Asanbera

To ensure efficient, streamlined execution of works under

PMGSY, a series of interventions have been made to enhance
the programme implementation capacity of the states and to
ensure on time completion, cost management, and rigorous
quality control. These interventions are summarized below.

DRRP and Core Network

The concept of Core Network has been operationalized for
the first time, under PMGSY, in order to focus on the set of
roads considered essential to provide connectivity to all
habitations of the desired size. The District Rural Road Plan
(DRRP) which inventorizes the entire Road Network is the

Bhundupani Sarlonga
Kuskela

Purnapani
Takaba
Karamukh
Hardibera
Khanjaloya
Bengarpani
Keondih

Chiarikani

Jamadori

POPTOTAL

0250
251500
Ghaghari
5011000
Bhelwadih
Kindardega
Basatpur
1000 and above
Kobang
Pahargurda
Hathabari Banabira
Kesalpu Pakartanr
Kairbera
Danargurda
Kongseri
Kinbira
Kamtara
Paledih
Tamara
Taisera
Maskera
Biru Belkarcha
Kulkera
Dumardih Manesera
Sikiriatar Chiksura Fulwatanga Sokari
Arani
Sarkhutoli
Tabhadih Ankara
Barkatangar
Sogara
EhuSabera Birkera
Sewai Bandojore
Madhuban Khotitoli
Hawatoli
Kochedega
Koliadamar
Baghlatta Bangru
Sunsewai
Ghosara
Kudrum
Birkera
Bhawarpani
Sarja
Tilga
Pithara
Kasaidohar
Guida Bigari
Barabarpani Thailkobera
Tumdegi
Chotabarpani
Kharwagartha Bindhaitoli
Belgar Jogbalrai
Katukona
Merumloya
Tina
Barkichhapa
Muia

0 1 2

Million less

Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi

Fig. 5.5 DRRP for a Typical Block

Rural Roads
Core Network Plan
Simdega Block, Simdega District, Jharkhand
N
E

W
S
Katasaru
Lelong
Gondalipani
Asanbera

Bhundupani Sarlonga
Kuskela

Purnapani
Karamukh Takaba
Hardibera
Khanjaloya
Bengarpani
Keondih

Chiarikani

Jamadori

0 1 2

Ghaghari

Basatpur
Kobang
Kesalpu Pakartanr

Million less

the integrated development of all rural roads schemes,

including PMGSY. Funds for the PMGSY programme are
routed to these SRRDAs and are operated by the designated
officers in each of the district PIUs, under a works accounting
system specifically designed for PMGSY by the Institute of
Public Auditors of India (IPAI).

POPTOTAL

0250
251500
5011000
Bhelwadih
1000 and above
Pahargurda
Kairbera
Danargurda
Kongseri
Kamtara
Paledih
Tamara
Taisera
Maskera
Biru Belkarcha
Kulkera
Dumardih Manesera
Sikiriatar Chiksura Fulwatanga Sokari
Arani
Sarkhutoli
Tabhadih Ankara
Barkatangar
Sogara
EhuSabera Birkera
Sewai Bandojore
Madhuban Khotitoli
Hawatoli
Kochedega
Koliadamar
Baghlatta Bangru
Sunsewai
Ghosara
Kudrum
Birkera
Bhawarpani
Sarja
Tilga
Pithara
Kasaidohar
Guida Bigari
Barabarpani Thailkobera
Tumdegi
Chotabarpani
Kharwagartha Bindhaitoli
Belgar Jogbalrai
Katukona
Merumloya
Tina
Barkichhapa
Muia

Kindardega
Hathabari Banabira
Kinbira

113

Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi

Fig. 5.6 Core Network for the Above Block

Agency is primarily responsible for maintaining quality

through its executive engineers, at the district level, as well as
through an independent Quality Control Agency, whether
departmental or otherwise, which is responsible to the officers
of the Executing Agency or the Nodal Department independent
of the field engineers at the state level.
In addition, the NRRDA engages National Quality
Monitors (NQMs) to verify at random the quality of road
works. The reports of the NQMs are sent to the state
government for necessary action. About 21,000 inspections
have been carried out so far, out of which about 18,000 works
have been found satisfactory. Any infringement/deficiency,
detected by the NQMs, is rectified before the State Authorities
can make further payments.

Technical Agencies
Fifty State Technical Agencies (STAs), mainly National Institutes
of Technology and Government Engineering Colleges of
repute have been identified in consultation with the state
governments to advise and assist the Executing Agencies by
scrutinizing the project proposals prepared by the state
governments, providing requisite technical support to the state
governments, and undertaking training programmes.
The NRRDA has also identified seven Principal Technical
Agencies (PTAs) to act as the Regional Coordinators of the
STAs as well as the extended arms of NRRDA in the pursuit
of its objectives. The PTAs oversee the activities of the STAs
in the region, carry out random checks of the Detailed Project
Reports (DPRs) scrutinized by STAs, evaluate specifications
and practices, develop course material for training programmes,
and act as resource institutions. The PTAs are also to assist
the NRRDA in quality audit of roads. The identified PTAs
are the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), IIT, Mumbai,
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bangalore,
IIT, Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, Birla Institute of Technology,
Pilani, and National Institute of Technology, Warangal.

Rural Roads Manual

A web-based Online Management & Monitoring System

(OMMS) is being used for the PMGSY. The website can be
accessed at www.omms.nic.in. A new website has also been
developed by the Rural Connectivity Division containing
details of the PMGSY Schemes, Guidelines, Agencies involved,
role and responsibilities, progress, and so on and can be
accessed at www.pmgsy.nic.in.

The original manual, called Manual on Route Location,

Design, Construction and Maintenance of Rural Roads was
brought out by the Indian Roads Congress as a publication
in 1979 (IRC: SP:201979). Following the launch of the
PMGSY, the Ministry of Rural Development constituted
three Committees in January 2001 to go into various aspects
of rural road construction and the manuals on these different
aspects brought out by the committees were combined into
a separate Rural Roads Manual and published as an IRC
publication (IRC:SP: 202002) in supercession of the earlier
manual (MORD 2004a and 2004b). This manual is now
the basis of all works under the PMGSY.

Streamlined Administration and Accounting

Standard Bidding Documents

State Rural Roads Development Agencies (SRRDAs) have been

set up in all states with the task of functioning as the dedicated
agency of the state nodal department for rural roads to ensure

To standardize the tendering process of the states, a Standard

Bidding Document has been prepared which is used by all
states for procurements of works under PMGSY.

Online Management & Monitoring System

114

India Infrastructure Report 2007

Book of Specifications and Standard Data Book

In order to streamline the process of estimating and to
standardize contracts, a separate Book of Specifications and
Standard Data Book have been prepared for rural roads. State
governments have been advised to publish Annual Schedule
of Rates for rural roads based on these documents.

Operations Manual
The NRRDA has prepared an Operations Manual which is
utilized by all the Executing Agencies in the field in the
implementation of projects cleared under the PMGSY. This
is expected to provide clear and uniform guidelines to the
executing agencies in the states in regard to standards,
specifications, guidelines, and prioritization criteria.

Maintenance Management
Huge assets are being created as a result of construction of
new roads and upgradation of existing roads in order to
provide full farm-to-market connectivity. Guidelines provide
for the ways and means to ensure regular and systematic
maintenance of the assets created under PMGSY. The state
governments are expected to take steps to build up capacity
in the District Panchayats and devolve funds and functionaries
unto them to enable them to manage maintenance contracts
for rural roads.
All PMGSY roads (including associated main rural links/
through routes of PMGSY link routes) are covered by 5-years
maintenance contracts entered into along with the
construction contract, with the same contractor, as per the
standard bidding document. Maintenance funds to service
the contract are to be budgeted by the state government and
placed at the disposal of SRRDA in a separate maintenance
account. The states have also been advised to prepare
comprehensive maintenance management plans.
While these interventions have brought about some degree
of professionalism in the programme management and fostered
a culture of quality in the rural roads sector, the absorption
capacity of the states as well contractors is still well below the
levels required to achieve the targets set under Bharat Nirman.

objectives, assessment was also made for the upgradation of

the existing rural roads in all the states (Table A5.2).
The target for connectivity/upgradation includes new
connectivity to about 60,000 habitations of 1000 plus
population, to 81,000 habitations of 500 plus population and
to 29,000 habitations of 250 plus population. Total cost of
new connectivity is about Rs 79,000 crore. Upgradation of
about 370,000 km rural roads at a cost of Rs 53,000 crore is
also planned. Thus, the total envisaged cost of the PMGSY
is about Rs 132,000 crore.

Achievements under PMGSY.

Proposals under PMGSY prepared by the states are being
cleared in different phases since 2001. The physical and
financial status and achievements so far under PMGSY are
summarized in Table A5.3.
While completion of over 90,000 km of roads under the
scheme may appear impressive as compared to the past record
in the rural roads sector, actual achievements have fallen
far short of the targets originally envisaged. The original goal
set under the scheme was to provide connectivity to all
unconnected habitations with a population of 1000 or more
by 2003 and all unconnected habitations with a population
of 500 and above by the end of the 10th Plan period (by year
2007). All habitations with a population of 250 or more in
the hill states, desert areas, and tribal areas were also targetted
to be covered by 2007. As against these programme targets
originally set, the proposals cleared so far are expected to
provide connectivity to only 56,638 habitations. The status
of habitation coverage so far under this scheme has been
indicated in Table 5.2.
With only 15.8 per cent of habitations having been actually
connected so far, it is evident that the scheme would miss the
10th Plan target by a huge margin. Recognizing this slippage
the time frame for providing full connectivity to habitations
with population above 1000 (above 500 in hill, desert and
tribal areas) has been reset under Bharat Nirman.
Table 5.2
Connectivity Status under PMGSY*

Assessment of Targets
All states have been requested to prepare DRRPs as
compendiums of all existing roads and those roads proposed
for connecting the unconnected target habitations, starting
from Block Maps and identification of the Core Network
Based on such maps which were prepared with full inventory,
eligible habitations have been identified as per programme
guidelines and the length required as well as the costs at
constant prices assessed (Table A5.1). In tune with the

Population
category
1000 and above
500999
250499
Total

No. of
eligible
habitations

No. of
habitations
covered by
projects
approved

No. of
habitations
connected

59,855
81,466
31,451
172,772

28,361
21,942
6335
56,638

16,081
8602
2620
27,303

Note: *June 2006.

Source: Ministry of Rural Development.

Rural Roads

PMGSY under Bharat Nirman

Announced as a time bound business plan for augmenting
rural infrastructure, Bharat Nirman has rural roads as one of
the six components. The targets announced by the Finance
Minister in his budget speech on 28 February 2005 seek to
provide all-weather connectivity to all habitations having
population of 1000 or more (500 or more in hill, tribal and
desert areas) by 2009. While the primary objective of PMGSY
has been to provide last mile connectivity to all eligible
unconnected habitations, in order to ensure full farm-tomarket connectivity Bharat Nirman also includes an
upgradation component. It is estimated that under Bharat
Nirman 66,802 habitations would be provided new
connectivity with a road length of 146,185 km. Besides, 194
thousand km of existing through routes of the Core Network
would be upgraded/renewed. The total investment on rural
connectivity under Bharat Nirman has been estimated at Rs
48 thousand crore over 20059. The year wise targets for
new connectivity and upgradation have been detailed in Table
A5.4 and Table A5.5.

Critical Evaluation of PMGSY

Evaluation by Planning Commission
An evaluation was carried out by the Planning Commission
in the year 2005 to:
1. assess the extent to which objectives of the programme
have been achieved;
2. make a qualitative assessment of the physical and financial
performance of the programme;
3. assess the impact of the programme on socio-economic
conditions of the residents of villages provided with road
connectivity under the programme; and
4. identify the constraints in the implementation of the
programme and make suggestions to modify the same.
The study covered ten states in the country with fourteen
districts selected for the micro level study. Physical performance
at the state level varied from as low as 28.77 per cent to well
above 92 per cent with an average of about 60 per cent
(Planning Commission, 2005). Similarly the achievements
in the selected districts varied from 78 per cent to about 98
per cent. In many cases the performance at district level was
found to be generally above the state performance. The
evaluation revealed that cost of construction per km varied
from state to state as well as among the districts. Financial
performance at the state level exhibited similar trends with
fund utilization varying from 33.89 per cent to over 90 per
cent in different states.
The evaluation study noted that the 3 Tier Quality Control
System prescribed by PMGSY yielded good results and the
quality of roads constructed was generally rated as Very Good.

115

The reasons for shortfall in targets as identified by the

evaluation team included procedural impediments, new work
practices that consumed more time, non availability of land,
local panchayats not being taken into confidence, scarcity of
skilled labourers, and prolonged monsoons in certain states. In
order to achieve targets the study suggested augmentation
of resources, provision of cash compensation for acquisition
of land, speedier identification of unconnected habitations,
periodic updation of on-line information, realistic fixation
of upgradation target, complete involvement of Panchayat
institutions, enhancement of time limit for completing projects,
adoption of centralized tendering system, meticulous project
preparation, avoidance of multiple agencies, deployment of
exclusive staff for PMGSY, utilization local labour, efforts for
lowering of construction costs and constitution of a state level
vigilance committee.
In short, programme evaluation revealed that PMGSY
has succeeded in providing connectivity to most deserving
habitations, although the pace of implementation in some states
is rather slow. The selection strategy was found to be okay and
quality was found to be generally good. PMGSY has improved
the accessibility of beneficiary villagers and resulted in higher
incomes. Notwithstanding the fact that there are certain
measures required to be taken for meeting its objective, the
critical evaluation complimented the efforts that have gone
into and hoped for better performance in future.

Performance Audit by C&AG

A performance audit of the programme was conducted by
the Comptroller and Auditor General between JanuaryJune,
2005, covering the period during 20005 (C&AG 2006).
The services of CRRI New Delhi were commissioned for
technical inspection of more than fifty roads for assessing the
quality of the roads constructed under PMGSY (MoRD 2004).
The audit also covered the effectiveness of operationalization
and utility of OMMS and focused on the deficiencies, problems
of software, validation checks, security features, and lack of
utilization of OMMS for monitoring the programme.
While the objective of the PMGSY at the time of its launch
was to provide connectivity to all 1000+ habitations, only
about 24 per cent of the target set was achieved during the
first five years of the programme. The database used at the
time of launch appears to be inadequate for setting the targets
and also the guidelines were not firmed up properly. In the
absence of clarity in the guidelines, bias towards upgradation
was noticed in the project proposals of the first two phases.
The estimated fund requirement of Rs 58,200 crore was
also found to be unrealistic in the light of the fact that the
revised estimate for achieving the same objective was found
to be more than Rs 130,000 crore. Adequate measures have
not been taken for the mobilization of funds, in tune with the
targets set, which can be seen from the fact that only Rs 12,290

116

India Infrastructure Report 2007

crore were mobilized up to March 2005. Discrepancies in

non-utilization of funds in some states revealed spends in
purposes beyond those specified in the guidelines.
Efforts were not made to ensure integration of other
related on-going schemes in securing programme objectives.
Abandoning of works sanctioned and incompleteness of
connectivity came to light during the performance audit in
almost fourteen states.
Completion was found to have overshot by large margins,
time limits set in the guidelines, providing evidence of
inadequate project management. The audit noticed poor
competition among tenderers in more than ten states. The
absorption capacities of states and PIUs were not adequately
understood for the implementation of the programme. The
performance audit also noticed certain deficiencies in the
quality monitoring mechanism and quality of the final
product. Even though OMMS is a step in the right direction,
its utilization as a monitoring tool is not achieved and several
deficiencies in the system management were noticed.
Based on the deficiencies noticed in the evaluation process,
CAG made the following recommendations:
1. There is a need for firming up of targets on realistic database.
2. The ministry should also firm up the targets on the basis
of funds that can be actually provided and utilized.
3. The ministry in coordination with the state government
should ensure that the guidelines are scrupulously followed.
4. States should be advised to support the project proposals
with correct and relevant documents proving the availability
of land free of all encumbrances.
5. The states should be advised to take prompt action against
the contractors in case of failure to honour to time or
quality commitments.
6. The independent quality assurance should be reinforced by
involving independent research and educational institutions.
7. Ministry should issue detailed directives for greater attention
to project preparation and exercise periodical checks.
8. Ministry should persuade the states to make suitable
provisions for maintenance.
9. All efforts must be made to correct the deficiencies in the
OMMS to create an additional tool for monitoring and
management.
Audit examination revealed that the performance of the
programme could have improved if
1. The magnitude of the programme and the capacity of the
states had been assessed realistically, funds of the required
magnitude provided and frequent revision of guidelines
and the data on unconnected eligible habitations to be
covered under the programme avoided;
2. The DRRP and the CN were complete and based on
reliable data;
3. OMMS were introduced promptly along with the
programme after ensuring and obtaining satisfactory proof
of the reliability of all the features and facilities in the

software including validation checks and after imparting

effective training to the users; and
4. It was ensured through focused monitoring that there were
no deviations from sanctioned specifications to prevent
sub standard quality of work.

Impact Assessment of PMGSY on Rural Economy

Ministry of Rural Development commissioned a series of
quick assessments of socio-economic impact of PMGSY in
Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram,
Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West
Bengal. These studies were conducted by independent
agencies during January to February, 2004 (MoRD 2004).
Major findings of these studies are as follows.

Impact on agriculture
Construction of the PMGSY roads has substantially benefitted
farmers. Prior to the construction of the PMGSY roads,
farmers found it difficult to sell agricultural goods in bigger
markets located far away from their villages.
PMGSY road connectivity has led to a better transport
systems during all seasons. Farmers mentioned that the
problem of not being able to access the markets during
monsoon has been solved by the construction of roads. This
impact has been greatly felt in the states of West Bengal,
Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Assam and so on.
The PMGSY roads have made it easier to transport
agricultural inputs to villages which has led some farmers to
switch from food crops to cash crops (such as ginger, jute,
sugarcane, sunflower).
An increase in the number of families rearing goats/sheep
for commercial purposes was mentioned by beneficiaries in
the states of Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh.
Many families have bought cycles after the construction
of the road to be able to carry dairy products for sale to
nearby towns.

Employment generation
After the construction of PMGSY roads, an improvement
in the employment situation in terms of more job opportunities,
avenues for self-employment, and so on were observed. Onfarm employment opportunities also increased due to shift
from grains to cash crops and also multiple cropping
particularly in the state of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh,
and Mizoram.
More people are going to nearby towns and villages for
odd jobs like selling woods, vegetables, dairy products and locally
made items like pickles, papad and so on due to expansion
of local industries, which in turn has generated employment
opportunities.

Rural Roads

117

Cottage industry

Transport services

Beneficiaries reported that the pottery and brick making

industry of Orissa has benefited from the PMGSY roads.
Cottage industries of Tamil Nadu, Handloom industry of
West Bengal, and agro industry in Assam also benefitted from
road connectivity.

The benefits of rural connectivity have been felt most keenly in

Mizoram and Rajasthan where PMGSY roads have made it
easier for the beneficiaries to cope with the difficult terrain.
There has been an increase in ownership of bicycles and two
wheelers especially in the states of Assam, Rajasthan, West Bengal,
and Tamil Nadu. Also, there has been an improvement in the
public as well as the private transport systems in all the states.

Health
There has been an overall improvement in access to health
facilities like PHCs, sub-centres, and district hospitals in the
states of West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu,
Himachal Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. Positive impact was
observed on accessibility to preventive and curative health care
facilities; better management of infectious diseases, and
attending to emergencies and increase in frequency of visits
by health workers.
Improvement in antenatal and post-natal care was observed
by beneficiaries, thereby decreasing obstetrics emergencies,
in the states of Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu,
Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Road connectivity and an
improved transport system enabled families to opt for
institutional deliveries in hospitals outside the village.
Decrease in infant and child mortality especially in the states
of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu,
Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal was reported.

Quality of life
An immediate and direct impact of providing rural road
connectivity was observed in the quality of life as cooking
gas became available in villages. The states of Mizoram, Tamil
Nadu, West Bengal reported conversion of kuchcha houses
to pucca houses. The connectivity led to sudden escalation
of prices of land adjacent to the PMGSY roads. This also led
to an increase in the sale of land for commercial purposes.

Poverty alleviation
The roads, directly or indirectly have provided opportunities
for on-farm and offfarm employments as well as selfemployment. With the improvement in on-farm and non-farm
employment opportunities, beneficiaries in all the states
reported increase in their average household income, thus,
reduction in poverty.

Education
With the construction of PMGSY roads, there has been
an improvement in the accessibility to education facilities.
This has resulted in increased school enrolment and school
attendance in all the states, especially, in the number of
girls going to schools in Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa,
Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Most parents mentioned
that they were now more confident about sending their
daughters to schools unescorted. Moreover, regular attendance
of the teachers throughout the year is observed and
greater willingness is evident among parents to send
boys and girls for higher studies and college education outside
their villages.

Governance and public services

The road connectivity has increased the frequency of visits
by government officials and grass root level functionaries like
health workers/Auxilliary Nurse and Midwives (ANMs),
Village Level Workers (VLWs) and Village Anganwadi Worker
(VAWs) in Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and
West Bengal. There has been an improvement in accessibility
to banks, the Post and Telegraph offices, and quicker access
to the police.

Distributional and equity issues

Though it has been revealed through several impact studies
that rural roads have multidimensional beneficial impacts
on the rural community, these benefits may not be equitably
distributed. Well-off households with better resource
endowments, capabilities, and skill sets generally derive more
benefits from the improved access as compared to poor
households. This calls for prior indepth analysis of the potential
input from the major stakeholders with a view to devising
appropriate mitigation measures to make this scheme inclusive
in terms of its benefits.
Though rural roads provide accessibility, the assurance
on transport availability and affordability must be looked into.
For instance, a rural road serving as a means of transportation
may permit people to use their own mode of transport, but
unless public or intermediate public transportation is available,
the benefit of the rural road will not reach all. Further, even
when public transport service is available, the affordability
to use the services may once again put the very poor at
a disadvantage.
In short, roads are clearly a critically enabling condition
for improvement of living conditions and quality of life in
rural areas. Distribution of economic benefits can now be

118

India Infrastructure Report 2007

ensured to all sections through the creation of complementary

activities for broadening livelihood opportunities to
economically weak sections of the rural society.

Cost Trends under PMGSY

Cost of road construction is mainly determined by the type
of terrain, soil condition, projected traffic, availability of
construction materials, rainfall, and other environmental
factors. As such, cost of construction under PMGSY varies
widely across states and even within a state and across districts.
Cost of construction also depends on the choice of technology
used and labourmachine mix.
In a labour-surplus economy like India, it is, therefore,
not only necessary to design the rural roads on the basis of

meticulous field investigations; it is also equally important

to adopt the optimal technology for construction.
Under PMGSY, executing agencies are required to prepare
DPRs, which are then scrutinized and vetted by the designated
STAs (reputed engineering colleges). While this institutional
development in project planning and preparation is a marked
improvement over the previous practice, approving projects
on the basis of line-estimates, the extent to which it has
succeeded in optimizing the cost of construction is yet to be
investigated in detail. Currently, cost varies from Rs 1516
lakh per unit length to as high as Rs 4550 lakh per unit
length in different states (Table A5.6). Probable reasons for
cost variation include topography of the local area, distance
from the availability of construction material, earthwork
required and so on (Box 5.2).

Box 5.2
Why Cost varies across Regions
A typical rural road consists of compacted sub-grade, granular sub-base, base-course with graded aggregate and thin bituminous
surface course in the form of pre-mix concrete with a seal coat. In order to ensure the serviceability of the road through out the year
with safety, necessary cross drainage (CD) structures, side drains, road signs, and other road furniture should be an integral part of the
rural road.
The detailed analysis of cost variation of rural roads was carried out at IIT, Roorkee covering 480 roads in 50 districts of Bihar,
Uttaranchal, and Uttar Pradesh. The analysis decomposed the cost of construction into cost towards site clearance, retaining walls, CD
structures, earthwork, sub-base, base-course, and surface course. The average cost of different components per km of the sample
analysed is presented in the table below.
Table B5.2.1
Average Cost Variation of Rural Roads in Bihar, UP, and Uttaranchal
Cost per km of (in Rs lakh)
Name
of the
State
Bihar
U.P.
Uttaranchal

No.
of
roads
analyzed

Avg. No.
of CD
structure

Construction

Site
clearing

44
382
54

3
3
8

20.7
19.2
26.6

.06
.04
2.47

Retaining
CD
wall
structure
0
0.01
2.76

1.05
1.34
3.54

Earth
work

Sub-base

Base

Surface

1.83
1.90
1.59

5.56
6.71
4.77

7.97
5.84
6.01

3.79
2.86
3.88

Av.
TranspDist. of ortation
quarry
Cost/
(km)
km
108
145
37

7.61
6.02
4.76

The analysis clearly brought out that:

1. Total cost of construction is 33 per cent higher in hill areas than in plain areas.
2. On an average, the number of cross drainage structures required per km of road in plain area is 3, whereas in the hilly region this
requirement is 8. This explains the higher cost of CD works in Uttaranchal (Rs 6.3 lakh) as compared to the cost of these works
in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 1.05 lakh and Rs 1.35 lakh respectively)
3. The cost of site clearance is a significant component of the total cost in hilly areas (Rs 2.47 lakh in Uttaranchal), whereas it is
negligible in plain areas (Rs 40006000 per km in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh).
4. The haulage cost for bringing construction material is more in the state of Bihar (Rs 7.61 lakh) followed by Uttar Pradesh (Rs
6.02 lakh) compared to Uttaranchal (Rs 4.76 lakh). This explains higher cost of construction in Bihar as compared to Uttar
Pradesh even though the regional and climatic conditions are similar.
The analysis also revealed that even within a state, cost variation can be significant across the districts owing to the site specific
conditions. The findings of the study warrant greater attention to detailed site investigations and technology option study at the
time of preparing of DPR.

Rural Roads

ALTERNATIVES TO REDUCE COST OF

RURAL ROAD CONSTRUCTION
Moderation of Geometric Standards
Based on the recommendations of NRRDC, the widths of
formation and pavement have been fixed at 7.5 m and 3.75
m respectively, though, the Rural Roads Manual permit 6 m
and 3 m roadway and carriageway when the expected traffic
is 100 motorized vehicles. However, most states are adopting
the higher widths, regardless of the traffic volume, resulting
in higher cost of construction. Therefore, it is necessary to
estimate the base year traffic realistically for adopting lower
geometrics to reduce the cost. Association of American State
Highway and Transport Officials (AASHTO), USA has suggested
lower geometric standards for very low volume roads.

Need-based Stage Construction

Under PMGSY, all roads are built with full provisions including
the base and surface courses at one go. However, in many parts
of the country on the new roads, connecting the habitations of
lower population by link roads, the traffic expected definitely
is less and a good gravel surfaced road with necessary drainage
and protection systems in place can serve the rural population
effectively. As and when the traffic builds up over time the roads
can be strengthened through the provision of base and surface
courses. This results in almost 40 per cent cost reduction in
the initial stage, enabling larger coverage in a given budget.
However, keeping in view the difficulties in the
maintenance of gravel roads as well as the dust problem, efforts
should be made to develop appropriate sealing techniques
for the gravel surfaces borrowing experiences from abroad as
well as R&D efforts in our country.

Use of Locally Available Material

The situation in many states indicates non-availability of
materials of requisite standards in nearby areas. Material haulage
is resulting in very high cost. If the available technologies are
exploited, it is possible to reduce the cost of long haulages by
utilizing locally available materials, including the marginal
aggregates and industrial waste material.
One of the proven technologies for the use of local soil
and marginal aggregates is stabilization. The stabilization process
could be mechanical or chemical. Several types of stabilizing
agents have proved to suit different conditions of soil and
environment. Noteworthy among them are stabilization with
lime or cement or a combination of lime and cement. In
addition to these standard technologies, other types of
technologies which are also being tried include the use of
rice husk ash, phosphogypsum, and sodium chloride.

119

A major constraint in the use of local material lies in the

procedures adopted by the field agencies and lack of awareness
and exposure. It is possible to popularize the use of stabilization
techniques through appropriate training and capacity building
of the field engineers. The reluctance of the field agencies to
deviate from the conventional methods and to try out innovative
technologies also calls for attitudinal changes through HRD
interventions.
In addition to the stabilization techniques, there is a large
array of technologies to promote the use of industrial waste/
by products in road building. Use of the industrial waste
materialsfly ash, steel and copper slag, and marble dust
has already been field tested (Box 5.3).
In addition, techniques suitable for conditions of low
bearing capacity soils, marshy lands, location with drainage
problems are also available. Research studies indicate that
natural geo-textiles such as coir have huge potential for
application on rural roads in areas where subgrade is of poor
quality. Based on the experiences of the use of Jute Geo Textiles
(JGT), Ministry of Rural Development in collaboration with
Jute Manufactures Development Council is implementing a
pilot project to test the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of
different types of JGT under different soil and environmental
conditions (Box 5.4).
Similar experimentation through pilot project for the other
technologies will be tried in the construction of rural roads under
PMGSY, so as to enable standardization and popularization of
cost effective solutions.
Recently, a number of environment friendly enzymes have
come into the markets such as fuzibeton, terrazyme, and
earthzyme which are expected to provide excellent riding
surfaces when mixed with in-situ or suitable borrowed soil.
This technology is designed to eliminate the use of aggregates.
As such, these materials can also be tried out in the rural
roads construction once their efficacy is proved in the local
conditions through pilot projects.
Some field studies have shown that life cycle cost of cement
concrete roads under certain circumstances would be much
less than conventional bituminous construction. This may
be due to avoidance of huge routine maintenance and periodical
maintenance costs in the conventional construction. Costeffectiveness of cement concrete roads in rural areas should,
therefore, be field-tested for life-cycle cost through a pilot
project under PMGSY.

MAINTENANCE OF RURAL ROADS

Rural roads need to be maintained at a minimum level of
acceptable serviceability. Lack of adequate and timely
maintenance is bound to accelerate the process of deterioration
of the roads, which in turn results in loss of time, agriculture
output, access, and eventually the asset itself. Further,

120

India Infrastructure Report 2007

Box 5.3
Use of locally available materials
Anil Kumar Sagar

FLY ASH FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION WORKS

Coal is the most easily available fuel for power generation in India. Huge quantities of fly ash are produced as waste by-product of coal
combustion. The present annual generation of fly ash is estimated to be about 140 million tonnes. The physical and chemical properties
of fly ash depend upon the type of coal, its grinding and combustion techniques, collection, and disposal systems. Fly ash reacts with
lime in presence of moisture to form cementitious compounds. This is known as pozzolanic activity. The pozzolanic property of fly ash
enables it to be used as an alternate binder in place of cement. While coarser fly ash can be used as fill material, the finer ash can be
used for replacement of sand and cement in road construction works. Use of fly ash for rural road work has been covered in IRC:SP:20
2002 and Rural Road Manual (MoRD, 2004b and Vittal, 2000).
Sub-base course can be constructed using pond ash or bottom ash replacing conventionally used moorum. Laboratory and field
studies conducted in India and abroad have established that fly ash can be adopted for stabilization of sub-base/base. Fly ashes are
cohesionless materials, and therefore non-plastic in nature while soil particles are generally cohesive. Mixing of soil and ash in suitable
proportions improves the gradation and plasticity characteristics of the mix, thereby improving the strength. Addition of small amounts
of lime greatly improves the strength characteristics of fly ash stabilized layers. 3 to 5 per cent of lime is used depending upon the
quality of lime. The use of stabilized fly ash sub-base/base courses would be particularly attractive in locations where fly ash is easily
available and supply of aggregate is expensive. The proportion 1:2:9 of lime, fly ash and moorum or sand has been found to provide
the best performance.
Fly ash can be utilized for constructing semi-rigid pavements in the form of lime-fly ash concrete, dry lean fly ash concrete.
Pavements constructed using these mixes possess higher flexural strength than flexible pavements and hence they are classified as semirigid pavements. Fly ash can be used for construction of rigid pavements also by using cement-fly ash concrete, high performance
concrete, roller compacted concrete and so on.
Fly ash can be used in place of soil to construct road embankments. Typically in developed urban and industrial areas, natural
borrow sources are scarce, and as a result borrow soil is very expensive. Environmental degradation caused due to use of top soil for
embankment construction is also very high. Fly ash can provide an economical and suitable alternative material to earth for construction
of embankments.
Coal ash can be used for construction of embankments of rural road projects near thermal power plants. The notification issued by
Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India dated August 27, 2003 has made usage of coal ash compulsory in all
projects being undertaken within 100 km radius of the thermal power plant. The notification states that, No agency, person or
organisation shall, within a radius of 100 km of a thermal power plant undertake construction or approve design for construction of
roads or flyover embankments in contravention of the guidelines/specifications issued by the Indian Road Congress (IRC) as contained
in the specification No. SP:58 of 2001 (Kumar et al. 2005).
Various demonstration projects involving use of fly ash have been undertaken. One such project was the construction of Salarpur
Dadupur rural link road using fly ash. The project was taken up by the CRRI in collaboration with NTPC Ltd under the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA) initiative. The site is situated at a distance of 5 km from National Capital Power Station
(NCPS), Dadri in U.P. Salarpur and Dadupur villages are part of a same panchayat and have a combined population of about 2000
persons. The length of the Salarpur-Dadupur link road is about 1.4 km. In this project bottom ash was used as embankment fill
material and fly ash collected in dry form was used for stabilization and as admixture in roller compacted concrete. The embankment
was constructed using bottom ash as core material with soil cover of 30 cm thickness. Fly ash stabilized using cement (8 per cent
cement and 92 per cent fly ash) was used for laying base course (compacted thickness of 10 cm). Fly ash and cement were mixed in a
concrete mixer and water required to bring moisture content to Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) was added during mixing. The
mix was manually laid to conform to grade and camber. Compaction was carried out using static roller. The stabilised layer was cured
for seven days by sprinkling water at frequent intervals before placing the subsequent layer. A total quantity of about 5000 tonnes of
ash was used for both fill and pavement works in this project. Keeping in view the fact that the link road is located in a remote area and
only light traffic is expected to ply on the road, the pavement is providing satisfactory service. The construction work was taken up in
March 2002 and completed in about 60 days. The total construction cost of the road was Rs 13.51 lakh. Since disposal of fly ash is a
problem for thermal power plants, it has also been argued that fly ash be provided at a negative cost to the TPP. In such cases, fly ash
is provided free of cost to the road manufacturer and the cost of transportation of fly ash to the site is borne by the thermal power plant.

IRON AND STEEL SLAG FOR ROAD CONSTRUCTION

Steel making is a strategic requirement of the economy of developing nation like India. Many steel plants have been set up in our
country. However, production of iron and steel is associated with the generation of waste materials like slag. Normally, production of

Rural Roads

121

one tonne of steel results in generation of one tonne of solid waste. Big steel plants in India generate about 29 million tonnes of waste
material annually. In addition, there are several medium and small plants all over the country. Slag reduces the porosity and permeability
of soil, thus increasing the water logging problem. It causes respiratory ailment among nearby residents, contaminates ground water,
and adversely affects the landscape of the area. Slag can be used as pavement material in a variety of forms. It can be used as a base or
sub-base material either in bound or unbound condition. It meets all the requirements set forth by the MoRTH. As per IRC:372001,
Rs 5 lakh per km can be saved by using slag as road material (Kumar et al. 2002).
It is evident that steel plant by-products, either as such or in suitable combination, can be used in sub-base or base course layer of
a road pavement. In order to compare the structural performance of these materials test sections were constructed using slags at
Rourkela in 19967. Post construction performance monitoring showed that the test sections are comparable to control sections
constructed using conventional materials.

MARBLE DUST
Widely found in Rajasthan, it is a waste material of marble industry. It has been shown that the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of the
sub-soil may be increased by upto 40 per cent to 50 per cent by mixing 15 per cent to 25 per cent of marble dust depending upon the
nature of soil. Thus the cost of construction may be reduced considerably.

PHOSPHOGYPSUM
It is a by-product of phosphoric acid based fertilizer plants. It can be used to stabilize black cotton soils as it reduces the shrinkage and swelling
of black cotton soil. The fertilizer plant of Indogulf Corporation located at Dalhej, Gujarat has demonstrated usage of this technology. The
cost of road after phosphogypsum stabilization is about 25 per cent less than the normal construction cost (Misra et al. 2004).

MUNICIPAL WASTES IN ROAD CONSTRUCTION

It is estimated that the average daily refuse generation in a metropolitan city like Delhi is approximately about 4000 tonnes. Disposal
of this large quantity of wastes need careful planning. Presently, municipal corporations dispose these solid wastes mainly through
sanitary land fill method and composting. While organic wastes are used for composting to yield manure, inorganic wastes are difficult
to dispose.
Under the aegis of Ministry of Environment and Forests, a project was taken up at CRRI to use inorganic part of the processed
wastes in road construction. A small length of the road in north Delhi was identified for construction as test section. Soil samples were
collected from subgrade and borrow areas to study their strength and geotechnical characteristics in order to design suitable pavement
cross sections using inorganic part of the municipal wastes in appropriate layers of the proposed test section. The processed waste not
being a suitable material in itself, additives like local soil, cement, lime, fly ash were used in different proportions in sub-base/base
course construction. Pavement specifications were developed for construction of test section at the identified site. The construction
work was completed satisfactorily in May 1996.
Waste plastic has also been used in the construction of rural roads. A pilot road namely Saint Tirisulam road at Saint Thomas
Mount Panchayat Union in Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu was laid by the joint effort of Government of Tamil Nadu and
Government of India. The technical support was provided by CRRI, IIT Chennai, and Theyagarajar College, Madurai. The road was
laid using waste plastic mixed bituminous mix. This road had better resistance to raveling and offered more resistance to stripping and
formation of pot holes. The aggregates coated with plastics and binders presented better resistance to water.

USE OF DHANDLA IN CENTRAL RAJASTHAN

Due to non-availability of hard stone within economical distances in desert areas, particularly in Central Rajasthan, road construction
has been posing serious problems, especially in rural areas. It is a common observation in desert areas that on account of the noncohesive nature of desert sand sub-grade, the sub-base material has the tendency to sink into the subgrade resulting in deformations
of various shapes and sizes. These deformations are subsequently reflected in the road surface causing either immobility or hampering
the vehicular traffic. It is, therefore, considered an essential pre-requisite to provide adequate support to the pavement for better
performance. This could be achieved either by stabilizing the desert sand sub grade with additives or by providing additional
thickness in the sub-base. Such treatments would result in increased cost of road construction. The Central and Western parts of
Rajasthan have, at present, quite thin density of population where the rate of growth in the volume of traffic on rural roads is not
expected to rise at a fast rate in the near future. It is quite imperative, therefore, to utilize the locally available road materials to the
maximum possible extent.
A calcareous material locally known as Dhandla is found in abundance under an overburden of 1.5 to 2.5 metres. Dhandla, being
quite soft, gets completely crushed under the road roller. It has been found that the bearing capacity of Dhandla was considerably
improved when compacted manually and could be effectively used in the lower layer of low-volume roads. Test tracks have been laid
using Dhandla. It is seen that substantial economy can be achieved by using this low grade material for road construction.

122

India Infrastructure Report 2007

Box 5.4
Pilot Project on Application of Jute Geo-Textile in Rural Roads

Jute Geo-Textile (JGT) is a natural technical textile laid in or on soil to improve its engineering properties. JGT is made out of yarn
obtained from the jute plant. It has high moisture absorption capacity, excellent drapability, and high initial tensile strength. It is
environment friendly, biodegradable, easily available, and economical. Use of JGT leads to natural consolidation of sub-grade
soil and has a potential to enhance the CBR value of the sub-grade by 1.5 to 3 times. Use of JGT dates back to as early as in
1920s when it was tried in some sections of a road at Dundee in Scotland. It was also used in a major road in Calcutta by the
British in 1934.
The NRRDA has taken up a pilot project in collaboration with the Jute Manufacturers Development Council (JMDC) to
demonstrate the potential benefits of the use of JGT in construction of rural roads. This pilot project aims at standardization of
different types of JGT. Under the pilot project, ten roads have been selected in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa
covering a length of 47.84 km (Table B5.4.1). Central Road Research Institute has been engaged as a technical consultant for this
project for project preparation, quality control, monitoring, and performance evaluation.
Table B5.4.1
Details of Jute Geo-Textile Pilot Projects
State

Name of the Road

Road
Length
(km)

Conventional
Cost
(Rs lakh)

Cost with
JGT
(Rs lakh)

Orissa
Orissa
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh
West Bengal
West Bengal
Assam
Assam

Jaipur-Mahananagal
MDR14 to Chatumary
Berasia to Semrakalan Approach road
Ghelawan village to PMGSY Road
Kodavabani to Khursi
Khairjhiti to Ghirghoisa Road
Notuk to Dingal
Nandanpur to Marokhana High School
Rampur Satra to Dumdumla
UT Road to Jarabari/Barnagaon
Total Cost
Average Cost/km

5.50
4.00
5.10
3.14
4.80
5.50
4.80
6.20
4.20
4.60
47.84

289
183
141
89.5
173
189
243
321
190
205
2023
42

246
162
140
74
159
171
188
303
157
193
1783
37

The detailed projects reports indicate that use of JGT would reduce the total cost of construction by Rs 2.40 crore and the average
cost by Rs 5 lakh per km. All the projects are now in progress. CRRI would monitor performance of the roads upto 18 months after
completion of each road.
Source: National Rural Roads Development Agency.

rehabilitation cost is high with increase in the vehicle operating

costs. In case of loss of asset there may be isolation.
Regular maintenance of rural roads is a critical precondition for sustaining the positive impacts that roads bring
to rural communities. Routine minor maintenance is often
neglected not only because of lack of funds, but also because
there is little political capital, or mileage in maintaining roads
regularly as the outcome is not highly visible. Instead, politicians
prefer to authorize major rehabilitation or reconstruction
after the road has deteriorated considerably. Though this is a

universal phenomenon, it is time this issue of sustainable rural

roads maintenance is taken seriously.
The maintenance strategies adopted in PMGSY require
that the maintenance cost be borne by the respective state
governments. This strategy assures maintenance of the road
in the initial five years of construction. The problem of
maintenance beyond that is still unresolved. The concept of
projectized maintenance cost may be thought of and the options
of mobilizing funds for maintenance need to be studied, in
order to keep up the sustainability of the rural roads.

Rural Roads
Strategies adopted in different countries enable us to
identify the main requirements for ensuring sustainable rural
roads maintenance as summarized below:
1. Policy decision on maintenance and commitment of the
government for the preservation of rural road assets
deviating from the bias towards new construction. There
is an urgent need to projectize the cost of maintenance at
the time of planning the new construction itself, in order
to achieve sustainability.
2. Development of Technical Standards for design and
construction along with a streamlined Quality Assurance
System as these have a bearing on subsequent
maintenance.
3. Adopting suitable Maintenance Management System for
planning, implementation for optimal use of constrained
resources, with clear policy of prioritization and supported
by well-defined documentation of database.
4. Institutional arrangements with clearly identified functions
and functionaries.
5. A dependable funding mechanism for maintenance.
6. Capacity building for the institutions as well as contractors
with necessary training for improvement of technical skills
and adoption of innovative methods of executing the
maintenance operations, in tune with the present day
technology.
7. Involvement of local governments and community at the
appropriate levels for undertaking maintenance of rural
roads with a systematically designed awareness programme
bringing out the consequences of inadequate and deferred
maintenance.
8. Need based Research and Development (R&D) efforts.

Estimation of Fund Requirements for Maintenance

Annual routine maintenance for rural roads is estimated to
be around Rs 20,000 per km/year on an average and periodic
renewal may cost about Rs 4 lakh for a 5 year cycle amounting
Table 5.3
Alternate Maintenance Strategies for Rural Roads
Budget

Maintenance Strategy

Full Requirement

Carry out full length Routine Maintenance/

Renewals in rural Core Network (CN).

50% of Full
Requirement

Carry out Routine Maintenance over full

length of rural CN. Carry out Renewals of
rural Through Routes.

25% of Full
Requirement

Carry out only Routine Maintenance for

full length of rural CN.

Less than 25% of

Full Requirement

Carry out routine maintenance of Rural

Through Routes in CN as per
prioritization based on PCI and AADT

123

to about Rs 80,000 per year (at current prices). As such, the

annual requirement per km of the rural roads maintenance
covering routine and periodic maintenance is Rs 1 lakh per
km per year. Based on the length of the rural roads, particularly
of the CN, estimation of fund requirement can be worked
out for budgeting purposes. However, with the availability
of full or partial budget, the maintenance strategy that may
be adopted is presented below.

Organizational Shortcomings
As multiple agencies are involved in the construction and
maintenance of rural roads, there is dilution of responsibility
and lack of accountability for maintenance. Further, there
is virtual absence of an institutionalized mechanism for
inventorization and pavement condition survey. There is no
planning and management system for rural roads for
identification and prioritization of the required maintenance
interventions.
The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), particularly the
District Panchayats are expected to ultimately take over the
responsibility of rural roads, particularly for maintenance.
However, in most states, hardly any progress is noticeable
with regard to transfer of funds, functions, and functionaries
to the District Panchayats. As a result, it has not so far been
possible to put in place a decentralized community participation
mechanism to ensure proper upkeep and maintenance of
rural roads.
Currently, the work of maintenance is being undertaken
both departmentally and through contractors. However, a
very large percentage of the available funds is spent on salaries
and wages leaving grossly insufficient amounts for non-wage
maintenance components. Though financial audit of public
expenditure on maintenance is undertaken by the C&AG
in the states, there is no formal arrangement in place for
technical audit processes to enhance focus on asset
management. As a large part of rural roads network is with
the state governments and ultimately maintenance of PMGSY
roads would also rest with state governments, there is a need
to reevaluate and relook at the maintenance of rural road
network (Box 5.5).

ROLE OF PANCHAYATI RAJ INSTITUTIONS

Keeping in view the Indian conditions a decentralized
maintenance model has been suggested by Sikdar (2006) (Box
5.6). This model defines the extent of responsibility at each
level, suggests how exactly each level would carry out its
mandated responsibilities and what kind of technical,
financial, and organizational support would be required for
building the capacity at each level. The model needs to be
piloted to evolve a workable system of decentralized
maintenance of rural roads through the empowerment of the

124

India Infrastructure Report 2007

Box 5.5
Relook at Maintenance of Rural Roads
Anil Kumar Sagar

MAINTENANCE STRATEGY
The basic elements of the strategy based on the maintenance needs are as follows:

Road Vision
The state governments should formulate a long term vision covering all aspects of maintenance, the funds available through PMGSY
and other poverty alleviation and employment generation programmes.

Norms for Maintenance

A study should be undertaken to determine the quantum of funds required for maintenance works. This would include routine and
periodic maintenance for earth, WBM, black-top roads in different traffic, and climatic conditions prevailing in various states. Minimum
essential requirements and those considered desirable for better level of service should be spelt out including allowances for emergency
works and special repairs. Not all roads are maintainable. It is necessary to identify the maintainable part of the road network and
preserve the assets by setting up an appropriate maintenance regime. Maintainable roads may be defined as all roads with drainage and
gravel surface that are in a reasonable condition, so that routine maintenance is possible without need for extensive rehabilitation.

Fund Allocation
A dedicated fund for maintenance of roads like the one in Uttar Pradesh needs to be set up in all states. The state governments should
realize that a decision to construct a road implies that it will be maintained subsequently. The source of these funds could be cess on
petrol and diesel, additional cess on agricultural produce, additional royalty on mining and quarries, road maintenance fee in the form
of annual road tax on vehicles, and surcharge on insurance premium for vehicles. The fund should be managed in a transparent
manner and systems and procedures need to be established to ensure accountability.

Core Network
The State PWDs should identify the core roads for each district. It would be appropriate to give priority of maintenance to roads in
the core network. The states should formulate a five year plan for removing the basic deficiencies in the core road network in the first
instance and other roads subsequently.

Improved Monitoring
A system of performance evaluation should be introduced. Some of the performance indicators that can be considered for the purpose
are percentage of maintenance expenditure to required expenditure as per norms, percentage of core road network actually subjected
to periodic maintenance, and percentage of core road network in poor condition. A few African countries which had set up dedicated
road funds for maintenance are regularly monitoring improvements in road condition. Performance audits should relate financial
flows and physical performance indicators to the condition of roads.

Creation of Maintenance Management System

A simple but rational maintenance management system for rural roads should be developed. The system should help in providing
network condition, road inventory, and need based priorities based on deterioration prediction models, annual maintenance plans for
a given budget, multi year road work programming, and impact on deterioration of roads for which funds are not allocated. A survey
should be conducted to establish a pavement condition index (PCI) of village roads as a tool for prioritization. A further sub-prioritisation
needs to be done on the basis of annual average daily traffic (AADT). For roads that cannot be maintained, a systematic approach to
appraisal is needed to determine whether they should be rehabilitated or upgraded. Such an approach should take account of the life
cycle costs of the road, its function and benefits and availability of resources.

Ensuring quality
One of the factors leading to high levels of maintenance is lack of compaction of earthwork, sub-base and base courses, and poor
attention to drainage works during construction of rural roads. Low crust thickness in some cases also contributes to early deterioration.

Review gang labour system

In some countries, a system of mobile gangs and reorganization of maintenance operations for improved efficiency of the existing
gangs either as a patrol gang system or area wide system has been introduced. A strategy for redeployment of existing gang labour into
labour cooperatives and outsourcing of maintenance work to medium and small contractors need to be looked into.

Rural Roads

125

Responsibility of PRIs
PRIs could be made responsible for maintenance of some non-core village roads and gang labour transferred to them. Some functions,
functionaries and funds (3 Fs) need to be transferred to PRIs. Experience of road maintenance in some of the South American
countries where such strategies have been successful can serve as reference. A summary of contracting the work of routine maintenance
to community based micro enterprises in Peru is given in the following section.

Drainage
Provision of adequate drainage is a critical requirement. A drainage audit must be undertaken for all existing rural roads and deficiencies
in this respect removed in a time bound manner. Initial design for new roads should take into account such requirements in any case.

Maintenance of WBM roads

A good length of rural roads has Water Bound Macadam (WBM) surface. Their maintenance is a major problem. Generally, these
roads deteriorate very fast under the traffic and often develop poor riding surface. A thin gravel surfacing is found to be effective in
Andhra Pradesh for the repair of these roads.

Financing of Road Maintenance

Some states have created a State Road Fund that is used for maintenance of roads. A part of this fund is also used for maintenance of
rural roads. Such funds are also used in African countries like Ghana and Zambia. However, the criteria for utilization of these funds
are not very clear. There is a need to support the management committee of the fund by a lean but strong professional cell for effective
administration of the fund and strengthening the operation process and putting in place scientific principles of prioritization of
maintenance treatments based on regular condition survey of roads. The current system of monitoring of physical and financial targets
does not give a clue to the improvements achieved in condition of roads. Despite the creation of a dedicated fund for road maintenance,
the amounts available for maintenance from all sources continue to be inadequate. There is a shortfall of over 60 per cent in availability
of funds compared to needs. Practically, no funds are allocated for maintenance of roads constructed by departments other than the
state PWD. A detailed estimate of funds required for maintenance of rural roads on realistic basis is needed with clear break up for
routine and periodic maintenance for earth, water-bound macadam, black-top roads in different traffic and climatic conditions prevailing
in different parts of the country. The norms should consider the frequency of various maintenance tasks required. Minimum essential
requirements and those considered desirable for better level of service should be spelt out including allowance for emergency works
and special repairs. To begin with the MoRTH report on norms for maintenance can serve as a starting point (MoRTH 2000).

Renewal Cycle for Rural Road Maintenance

A disturbing feature in the maintenance policy laid down by the state governments relates to the renewal cycle provided for rural roads.
In UP, a period of 8 year cycle has been indicated for rural roads. Technically, it is well known that not only traffic but also environment
plays a key role in the life of the top wearing coat with bituminous binder (because of oxidation effect of bitumen) and that is why, the
Road Maintenance Manual of UP provides for a renewal cycle of 4 years. The inadequacy of funds alone does not appear to be a sound
logic in giving a go by to the norms laid down as a result of experience and experimentation on the ground (Gupta 2003). The expert
committee set up under the chairmanship of the Director General (Road Development) and Special Secretary to the Government of
India recommended norms for maintenance which are as follows:
Table B5.5.1
Maintenance Norms for Rural Roads
Category
of Roads
ODR/VR
(Plains)

Traffic Group
150450
0150

Rainfall
Less than 3000 mm
More than 3000 mm
Less than 3000 mm
More than 3000 mm

SD-I
SD-II

5
4

PC
20mm

5
4

MSS
20mm

SDBC
25mm

5
4

5
4

MR-I

5
4

SD = Surface Dressing; PC=Premix Carpet; MSS=Mix Seal Surface; SDBC=Semi-Dense Bituminous Carpet; MR=Metal Renewal.
Source: (MoRTH 2000).
The cycle recommended by the Expert Committee of the MoRTH is ideal and could be the target to be achieved at least in respect of
the core rural roads network.

126

India Infrastructure Report 2007

In absence of a proper road inventory and condition survey, it is not possible to make a precise estimate of the maintenance funds
required annually in respect of rural roads. There is no organized data base for roadsinventory, condition, and traffic counts which
can help in formulation of need based maintenance plan. The budget grants for maintenance are usually distributed in a lump sum
manner assigned to road length. Only financial monitoring of expenditure against allotment is carried out. Maintenance works are not
subject to strict budgetary discipline. The system of performance budget whereby details of physical achievements against prespecified
targets (activity and work-wise) does not exist in many states. Maharashtra has developed suitable formats for performance budgeting
and can serve as a good reference.

Rural Road Co-operative for Maintenancethe Finnish experience

The Government of Finland has promoted rural road maintenance using road cooperatives. A road cooperative is a rural road maintenance
organisation whereby a road is maintained by the people living along it. The Finnish Government has provided a legal framework
which stipulates the right-of-way, cooperative ownership, and the formula for distribution of maintenance costs amongst the road
users and property holders along the road. Participation in the road cooperative is compulsory for property owners who use the road.
The cost of road maintenance is shared amongst the members of the cooperative depending on the benefits to each member in the
form of the size of the holding and the created traffic. Each cooperative holds an annual general meeting to decide the fees, to accept
new members and to audit the previous years accounts. (Isotalo 1992)

Routine Maintenance by Community Based Micro-enterprises in Peru

In Peru, the Rural Roads Project (RRP) has set up a cost-effective routine maintenance system based on contracting out labourintensive maintenance works to micro-enterprises, local cooperatives, and other community based organizations. The composition of
the micro-enterprises varies according to the length of the road. Their average size is about thirteen people and the average length of
the roads covered under a contract is about 34.6 km. Typically, micro-enterprises are made up of eleven to twenty people living close
to the road. Priority is given to unemployed people who have previous experience in construction works.
The micro-enterprises are engaged through performance based contracts with Peru Roads Department (PCR) and paid on a
monthly basis. Micro-enterprise members designate their president and executive council, and determine how the monthly payment
is allocated to the various uses (wages, tools, rentals, transportation, savings, and other investments). On an average, wages account for
89 per cent of the expenditure.
Micro-enterprises carry out simple works, continuously throughout the year, to clean the ditches and culverts, control vegetation,
filling potholes and ruts, maintaining the surface camber, remove small landslides and undertake other emergency works. They have
also demonstrated capacity to build retaining walls and small bridges and handle El Nino emergency works under the guidance of
PCR. The micro enterprise is a cost effective way of keeping the roads rehabilitated in good condition. The programme generates
direct employment for its members. The micro-enterprise becomes a focal point for community work and communal activities to
ensure continuous support from the community.

Lessons for India

Using community based micro-enterprises has important lessons for India that has a very high percentage of unskilled labourers living
in rural areas. The study highlights the active involvement of people in maintaining their own roads. Importance of group work can
also not be neglected. It has been shown by people organized into groups that they can face the harshest of situations.
MoRD has started an ambitious programme Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) wherein people in villages are organized
into groups for self employment. These groups can provide a good beginning for taking up road maintenance works in rural areas.
Since rural roads carry low volume traffic, the requirements for routine road maintenance will be minimal as compared to periodic
maintenance or rehabilitation. The Government also provides funds to generate employment in rural areas by schemes such as Sampoorna
Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), National Food for Work Program (NFFWP), and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(NREGS). However, under the present guidelines, funds available under these schemes cannot be spent for maintenance of existing
assets. Moreover, the schemes stipulate formation of proper estimates before taking up any work. However, funds for routine maintenance
should not wait for preparation of estimates. Under routine maintenance, funds should be given on a normative basis. Formation of
estimates would delay maintenance works and defeat its very purpose. The guidelines under these schemes can be suitably modified so
that groups of people can work for routine road maintenance. This would have the dual benefit of providing employment as well as
ensuring adequate maintenance of roads.
Typically, a village is connected by one road. In such cases, one group in the village may be given the task for maintaining that
road. However, in villages with multiple connectivity, more than one group may be formed for routine maintenance works. A group
should consist of eleven to twenty men who should be given preliminary training for taking up road maintenance works. The training
can be given by existing state PWD engineers or master trainers specially trained for this purpose. Funds for training can be provided
through the SGSY scheme.

Rural Roads

State PWD
NREGs

SGSY

GROUP

Routine Roads Maintenance

Fig. B5.5.1 Model for Rural Road Maintenance

127

As in Peru, the state PWD department may also enter into a contract
with these groups so that the groups are ensured a steady source of income
and middlemen are eliminated. Depending on their performance, the groups
should also be given incentives so that their needs for other equipment are
also taken care of. After gaining enough experience in routine maintenance,
these people may also be considered for taking up periodic maintenance,
obviously, under strict control of the state PWD. The above scheme would
have the benefits of routine road maintenance, employment in rural areas,
poverty reduction, no extra requirement of funds for maintenance, feeling
of ownership amongst the rural masses, a step towards decentralization
keeping in spirit of the 73rd amendment, creation of workforce for
maintenance in all rural areas, effective planning for road maintenance,
and control on routine maintenance (Figure B5.5.1).
Note: Views expressed here are of the author of the box.

Box 5.6
A Proposed Model of Community Participation in Rural Road Maintenance
Ensuring sustainability of rural roads requires (i) rigorous planning and design, (ii) an effective delivery system, (iii) mobilization of
adequate resources, and (iv) appropriate technology and mechanism for the maintenance interventions. The three-tier Panchayati Raj
System (PRIs), which has come into existence by virtue of the 73rd Amendment of the constitution, offers an excellent opportunity to
institutionalize a hierarchical, decentralized system of maintenance with more technical and complex operations assigned to the district
level and the most routine and low technology operations to be tackled by the village panchayats through the maintenance gangs
(MGs). The model envisages formation of MGs with four or five able-bodied villagers to be selected from the village itself and
imparted training on simple maintenance activities. The suggested model of allocation of maintenance responsibility is as follows:
Table B5.6.1
Model of Allocation of Maintenance Responsibility
Admn./Orgn
Unit

Extent of Road
Length, km.

Responsibility

District

5001000

Block (Intermediate panchayat)

Central village
gang (for a group
of villages)
Maintenance
gang of village

50100

Planning and assessment of maintenance needs regularly; rehabilitation and renewal

works periodically every 57 years.
Procurement of materials and equipment/implements & distribution to central
village gang (CVG).
Collection of materials and equipment/implements from Block HQ and storing for
distribution to MG.

810

12

Execution of routine maintenance by the MG of the village.

Each MG would be made responsible for maintaining 12 km of road located very close to the village. The intermediate panchayat
level set up will have the responsibility to procure and store materials (aggregates and cold bituminous emulsion) and implements
required for maintenance which will be distributed to the central village gangs (CVGs) for further distribution to the MGs of the
villages. Normal agricultural/household implements used by villagers would actually be utilized for carrying out maintenance works.
A specially made push-cart will be used by the MG for transporting materials and implements to the sites for maintenance works. A
manually operated pug-mill fitted to the push-cart will be used for mixing the aggregates and bitumen for producing the cold mix to
be used in maintenance of bituminous layer. A calibrated small metal container of known volume can be used for batching of the mix
and a normal rammer will be used for manual compaction of the repaired shoulder, side slope, side drain, or location of the crack

128

India Infrastructure Report 2007

repaired. The proposed framework envisages availability of engineers at the district level to assess the maintenance needs and current
pavement conditions every 6 months in rotation and to pass on the status report to the intermediate panchayat for onward transmission
to the village panchayats. The district level maintenance unit will have facilities for periodic maintenance and renewal interventions
based on pavement condition evaluation. Fair and equitable distribution of funds and material resources for operationalising this
arrangement will be ensured by the functionaries at the district and the intermediate level.
The proposed model allocates responsibility to the three-tiers of the panchayats commensurate with the capacity available at each
level. The model also envisages competition among the panchayats and MGs to increase effective community participation in maintenance
of rural roads through the PRIs.
Source: Sikdar (2006).

Box 5.7
Citizen Monitoring of Rural Roads
Citizens and taxpayers, being the ultimate users, have a right to demand good quality roads. However, this right cannot be divorced
from their duty to exercise due diligence and vigilance in order to ensure proper utilization of funds spent and to ensure that the
quality of the assets created meet the prescribed standards. It is, therefore, necessary to evolve and institutionalize a system of monitoring
the quality of road works by the citizens. For this purpose, however, the essential requisite and features of successful citizen participation
need to be demonstrated and validated experimentally. In this context, a pilot project has been taken up, under PMGSY, in collaboration
with Public Affairs Centre, Bangalore, to demonstrate the utility of involving the citizens in monitoring of road construction.
Under the pilot project, sixteen rural road projects will be identified in four districts in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (two districts in
each state). Each of the identified roads will be citizen monitored in sections up to 50 per cent of their length. Each critical stage of road
construction will be monitored by the citizen volunteers with appropriate quality checks. In each road, the citizen monitors will act as
relay teams handing over responsibility to the next monitoring team after construction of a section of the road is completed and monitored.
For each road project three to four citizens will be chosen to act as the core group of monitors. The monitors could be Civil Engineering
students from the nearby colleges, volunteers from civil society organizations, citizen associations, Gram Panchayats, Mahila Mandals, and
so on. However, they must have minimum requisite literacy/education and should have commitment and enthusiasm to perform the
required tasks. These citizen monitors will be imparted basic training at convenient field locations by the experts with the help of a simple
booklet detailing their tasks relating to monitoring and quality control. They would also be provided with a basic field kit of testing devices.
A package of simple physical tests for monitoring and quality assurance of rural road projects will be designed under the guidance
of eminent domain experts specifying the devices and testing modalities. In-house and on-site training would be provided to the
citizen monitors for carrying out these field tests. Greater participation of rural citizens will be secured by treating the citizen monitors
as focal points of the local groups. The citizen monitors are expected to assume leadership role and train others from the village to
participate in the monitoring process.
Four road experts would be identified for each state, to provide peer guidance and to assist the citizen monitors. The experts will
also carryout certain tests which are beyond the competence of the citizen monitors and which require more sophisticated testing
devices not included in the standard tool kits. Each expert would undertake ten to fifteen field inspections during the pilot phase. The
duration of the pilot phase is expected to be six months. All the processes involved in this exercise would be fully documented for
experience sharing and for developing a replicable model for citizen monitoring of infrastructure projects on a wider scale.

PRIs for which resources available under SGSY and NREGS

can be pooled as suggested in Box 5.5.
Since construction and maintenance of rural roads is
almost exclusively funded through public expenditure, it is
the tax payers money that needs to be accounted for. Besides,
the ultimate recipients of the service, the road users, should
be made aware of the investment made in the creation of the
assets and they should also be entitled to assess the cost
effectiveness and quality of the assets created for their benefit.
Institutionalization of a system of social audit by the citizens
and the road users is, therefore, essential, even though

monitoring road construction and maintenance involves a

high degree of technical proficiency and competence. In this
connection, it may be worthwhile to mention that under
PMGSY, states have been advised to fix citizen information
boards displaying physical and financial details of the project,
quantity of materials to be used and persons responsible for
construction and supervision. This is a measure to enhance
the level of transparency in programme implementation.
Further a pilot project has been initiated through the Public
Affairs Centre, Bangalore, to involve the citizens in monitoring
road quality (Box 5.7).

Rural Roads

129

WAY FORWARD

Promoting use of Labour Intensive Technology

The debate is whether one ought to centralize or decentralize rural road development and maintenance. Protagonists
of centralization assert that roads have certain special characteristics that make them different from other dispersed
rural infrastructure. First, good roads require a reasonably
high and uniform standard of construction and repair and
second, roads are not necessarily used by the local residents
alone. In the pursuit of standardization and adherence to
norms, centralization can also be carried to extremes, putting wide powers in the hands of a few, totally eliminating
scope for community participation and flexibility for local
initiatives and innovations. PMGSY is a CSS and capital is
provided by the central government to the state governments
to build the road network as per the central government
norms. The key issue remains of maintenance of this network
as it is handed over to the state government after constructing the road. State governments are obliged to provide from
their budgets for its maintenance.

While the poor households face fundamental deficiencies in

their assets to capture benefits of the opportunities that a rural
road may bring, one aspect of the rural road development,
which benefits the poor directly, is the opportunity that
construction and maintenance of these roads offer for
employment when labour intensive methods are used.
Experience from Asian and African countries reveals that the
principal gains for the poor from rural road programmes is
through employment generated during the construction.
Although employment on road construction is temporary in
nature, this provides an opportunity for the workers to
accumulate savings which can provide the necessary start up
capital to invest in alternative livelihoods to cross the threshold
of poverty. Labour intensive, intermediate technologies are
expected to generate five to six times more jobs in construction
of rural roads as compared to the highly equipment oriented
methods used for the highways. Furthermore, adoption of
labour intensive construction methods need not affect the
quality of works adversely, contrary to the popular belief.
It has been successfully demonstrated in Cambodia and
Peoples Republic of China that the quality of works, using
labour intensive methods, can be atleast as good as that of
the contractors using heavy machineries. There is, therefore,
a need to incentivize and promote use of labour intensive
techniques for rural road programmes with a focus on poverty
reduction.

Ensuring Community Participation

Intensive community participation is being widely recognized
as a major requirement for ensuring long term sustainability
of investment on rural infrastructure. Participatory planning
and management facilitates assessment of the needs of the
rural households in order to create integrated utilities for them.
Such an approach also provides opportunities to the community
to reinforce their identity as a key stakeholder and to exercise
their choices and rights freely. This promotes a sense of
ownership of the assets created and provides incentive for
their participation in construction and subsequently, in the
management of the assets.
While designing systems for community participation
and management, however, there is an important concern
which needs to be properly addressed. When community
management entails cash or labour contributions, the
burden generally falls disproportionately on the poor
households, since they may be forced to contribute free
labour time leaving less time for them to engage in their
primary productive tasks. This might adversely affect their
ability to meet subsistence needs and food security. They
may also be forced to contribute towards maintenance of
infrastructure assets, which they rarely use. What we should
really aim at in the involvement of the community is the
assessment of needs and decisions regarding maintenance and
management. This will ensure that community participation
is inclusive and pro-poor, since the poor will develop a stake
in using and maintaining the appropriate roads which serve
their needs.

Decentralization of Maintenance
Rural roads, by their very nature, are small in size and are
dispersed over a wide geographical area. Construction and
maintenance of rural roads are, therefore, not easily amenable
to centralized supervision and monitoring. Efficiency
considerations weigh in favour of a decentralized system for
maintenance and management of rural roads. Case studies
of different developing countries have shown that regular
maintenance of rural roads is a critical pre-condition for
sustaining the positive impact which these assets generate for
the rural community. Ensuring adequate and timely
maintenance, both routine and periodic, however, requires not
only adequate availability of funds, but also major institutional
reform. This is because the institutional responsibility for
rural roads is often not very clearly established. In many states
there appears to be lack of clarity, at least in practice at the
field level, over who is responsible for maintaining which
roads and also over the sources of funding their maintenance
requirements. In the absence of proper institutional systems,
very often there is no transparency and objectivity with regard
to prioritization and selection of roads, maintenance

130

India Infrastructure Report 2007

and rehabilitation. The ability to get a road included in the

annual maintenance programme or a rehabilitation scheme,
consequently, tends to depend heavily on the political strength
and influence that the beneficiary community can exert.
Poorer and more backward areas and communities are likely
to suffer under such a regime since they are less likely to have
the capacity and the power to lobby effectively for better roads.
There is a clear case, therefore, to move towards an efficient
system of decentralized maintenance of the rural roads by
empowering the PRIs. It is hoped that a clear road map for this
purpose would be set out at least in the 11th Five Year Plan.

Cost Benefit Framework for Investment on Rural Roads

It is a common perception that all-weather roads should be
necessarily black topped. Black topping, no doubt, provides
better riding quality and stability to the surface as well as
pavement structure. It prevents water percolation and arrests
the dust problem. However, black topping of fully constructed
crust becomes necessary only on the roads carrying high traffic
volumes. Investment of this type on roads connecting smaller
habitations with low traffic volumes can be rarely justified
on economic considerations. This calls for need based road
construction keeping in view the expected economic returns
from the investment. While the rural roads Manual treats
gravel road with necessary cross drainage and protection work
as an all-weather road, almost all the roads under PMGSY

are currently being black topped irrespective of the projected

traffic. Indeed a whole range of proven, cost effective pavement
options are now available as alternatives to bitumen surface
for low volume rural roads. Most of these paving options
require relatively smaller capital investments and optimize
use of local materials and use intermediate labour based
technology. A policy and institutional framework needs to
be developed to mainstream these alternatives for rural roads.
Providing all weather connectivity helps in promoting
economic growth and alleviates poverty. The PMGSY has
accelerated works in connecting habitations all over the
country and its impact on rural economy is perceptible not
only in economic life of people but in social life as well. There
is no clear policy on maintenance of these newly created assets,
though all PMGSY roads are covered by five years maintenance
contracts entered into along with the construction contract,
with the same contractor. But as funds are to be provided
through the state budget, there are no earmarked funds for
the maintenance of rural roads.
There is little doubt that rural roads are vital to agrobased industry and rural development, to create jobs, and to
make the countrys growth more broad based. As all-weather
road network through PMGSY is expanding we are witnessing
social and economic change beyond our expectations. Though
a watertight system to maintain this vast network is not in
place, it is unlikely that village community would let it fall
into disuse.

Rural Roads

131

ANNEXE
Table A5.1
Length and Cost of Rural Roads required for New Connectivity under PMGSY

S. Name
No. of State
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

No. of
Unconnected
habitations

Andhra Pradesh
2679
Arunachal Pradesh
2654
Assam
15,786
Bihar
24,321
Chhattisgarh
24,202
Goa
55
Gujarat
8127
Haryana
23
Himachal Pradesh
11,340
Jammu & Kashmir
3946
Jharkhand
21,036
Karnataka
4608
Kerala
440
Madhya Pradesh
34,771
Maharashtra
6892
Manipur
1142
Meghalaya
2752
Mizoram
392
Nagaland
127
Orissa
28,299
Punjab
920
Rajasthan
20,729
Sikkim
410
Tamil Nadu
5318
Tripura
3803
Uttaranchal
8654
Uttar Pradesh
61,554
West Bengal
35,667
Total
330,647

Source: www.pmgsy.org

Eligible Unconnected Habitations

1000+
500999
250499
Length
Length
Length
No.
(km)
No.
(km)
No.
(km)
167
43
6149
11,717
2604
0
472
0
262
785
2622
156
117
5804
203
71
9
47
21
3850
103
2906
16
577
203
171
8839
11,941
59,855

668
303
7900
26,687
12,213
0
1038
0
1734
3454
5298
103
116
25,131
633
355
31
236
280
7946
205
7063
78
1426
260
1299
16,300
13,192
133,949

417
105
4196
6203
6313
20
2288
2
853
942
4178
118
303
10,645
794
187
150
114
32
6738
433
6073
138
1825
706
667
15,358
11,668
81,466

1668
854
6671
6664
14,709
40
4027
26
3389
2722
8943
397
323
31,403
1961
633
553
948
478
13,652
774
19,468
541
3552
1205
4251
22,300
9803
161,955

396
267
2799
0
3644
35
1493
0
2379
1065
3896
602
18
2043
754
340
597
124
41
3805
0
2036
164
238
1182
1767
87
1679
31,451

990
1954
4416
0
10,634
50
2387
0
7709
2236
7204
1367
21
3730
1774
1143
2078
837
231
7776
0
5417
488
281
1516
4880
125
657
69,901

Total length
to be
covered (km)

Cost for
connectivity
under
PMGSY
(Rs million)

3326
3111
18,987
33,351
37,556
90
7452
26
12832
8412
21445
1867
460
60,264
4368
2131
2662
2021
989
29,374
979
31,948
1107
5259
2981
10,430
38,725
23,652
365,805

4520
8390
51,950
66,470
76,700
100
10,210
60
34,900
27,720
36,420
2250
950
121,990
7680
5170
6930
5910
2490
69,620
1610
40,630
3280
7870
9610
22,990
87,560
70,200
784,180

132

India Infrastructure Report 2007

Table A5.2
Length and Cost of Rural Roads Required for Upgradation under PMGSY
Length of Core Network (Rural Roads)
Through roads
Link roads
Total
State
(km)
(km)

S.No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chhattisgarh
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu & Kashmir
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Orissa
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttaranchal
Uttar Pradesh
West Bengal
Total

Source: www.pmgsy.org

8576
2750
10,551
12,746
12,536
71
2982
6567
5894
3585
7978
8141
305
25,330
8905
1343
2312
1117
805
19,138
7484
14,821
485
14,317
1637
4321
40,363
13,410
238,470

57,495
9154
16,632
38,898
29,040
788
40,668
6387
23,577
15,238
29,677
58,539
15,734
79,380
72,130
7284
7120
2396
6003
61,257
17,751
75,304
2408
52,561
4704
17,124
111,404
36,991
895,642

66,071
11,904
27,183
51,644
41,576
859
43,650
12,954
29,471
18,822
37,654
66,679
16,039
104,710
81,035
8627
9432
3513
6807
80,395
25,235
90,125
2893
66,878
6341
21,446
151,767
50,400
1,134,112

Length of
Estimated
upgradation
cost
(km)to be covered (km) (Rs Million)
17,201
4123
13,046
18,581
16,892
190
9082
7525
9431
5870
12,429
16,921
2665
37,237
19,724
2435
3380
1476
1705
28,327
10,147
26,117
846
22,201
2343
6890
57,074
18,958
372,816

25,820
7260
33,400
27,770
27,850
190
9720
13,150
16,600
11,400
17,280
18,720
4190
57,420
27,650
3750
6020
2650
2510
43,480
12,500
27,750
1150
30,190
4760
12,100
99,720
45,330
590,330

Rural Roads

133

Table A5.3
Physical and Financial status and achievements under PMGSY
Statement showing Physical & Financial progress under PMGSY (PhasesI to VI + ADB/WB)
(Rs in crores, length in kms)

S.
No. State
1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

Value
Amount
of
released
proposals
(up to
cleared 25.05.06)

2
AP
Arunachal
Assam
Bihar
Chhattisgarh
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
HP
J&K
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
MP
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Orissa
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
UP
Uttaranchal
West Bengal
Grand Total

1632.95 1011.47
437.74
179.46
1601.11
721.29
1384.03
592.80
2220.21 1078.26
9.72
10.00
438.34
284.87
258.08
201.18
1353.08
482.80
312.40
145.35
633.03
504.41
759.36
506.24
196.73
121.97
5103.92 2102.50
684.75
596.21
273.04
104.33
145.72
123.17
333.23
225.50
194.43
161.56
2240.95 1445.56
217.90
176.30
4490.81 2395.60
298.37
111.26
724.18
491.87
200.99
96.39
2916.29 2193.87
360.83
215.33
2328.20 1203.45
31750.39 17483.00

Source: www.pmgsy.org

No.
of
road
works

Length
of road
works

No. of road Length of

works
road works
completed completed
(up to
(up to
May, 06)
May, 06)
7

4580.00 13284.10 3564.00

446.00
1786.65
337.00
1294.00
4385.87
640.00
1297.00
5239.60
613.00
2094.00 10993.84
914.00
90.00
178.16
72.00
1553.00
3250.02 1139.00
111.00
1575.51
77.00
1506.00
7590.09
510.00
277.00
1025.81
41.00
629.00
3362.37
439.00
1921.00
7240.01 1518.00
443.00
837.04
192.00
5562.00 26456.59 2271.00
2148.00
5146.84 1508.00
849.00
1266.84
525.00
347.00
811.43
286.00
114.00
1526.83
67.00
208.00
1996.67
173.00
2880.00
9514.74 1663.00
508.00
1282.78
412.00
8865.00 30877.01 4374.00
182.00
1912.48
59.00
2604.00
5040.68 1738.00
311.00
841.38
205.00
11186.00 21227.95 7957.00
292.00
1822.86
131.00
1274.00
7650.14
683.00
53571.00 178124.29 32108.00

% of
% Exp.
completed % Length
to amount
road works completed Exp.
released
(up to
(up to
up to
(up to
May, 06) May, 06) May, 06 May, 06)

8535.35
1096.08
1558.26
1609.76
4998.56
158.70
2373.75
1107.85
2742.21
91.30
2317.95
5015.49
345.80
10529.22
3245.59
688.84
661.91
978.60
1582.37
5137.43
815.11
15427.75
1503.68
3121.72
437.07
13657.31
508.36
3471.40
93717.42

77.82
75.56
49.46
47.26
43.65
80.00
73.34
69.37
33.86
14.80
69.79
79.02
43.34
40.83
70.20
61.84
82.42
58.77
83.17
57.74
81.10
49.34
32.42
66.74
65.92
71.13
44.86
53.61
59.94

10

11

64.25
914.62
61.35
127.36
35.53
609.50
30.72
504.84
45.47 1088.23
0.00
5.32
73.04
274.54
70.32
163.38
36.13
359.57
8.90
59.71
68.94
411.28
69.27
403.63
41.31
75.33
39.80 2066.99
63.06
485.94
54.37
98.01
81.57
93.40
64.09
163.75
79.25
107.74
53.99 1147.02
63.54
166.77
49.97 1926.34
78.62
85.13
61.93
366.78
51.95
77.60
64.34 1624.25
27.89
150.53
45.38
929.36
52.61 14486.92

12
90.42
70.97
84.50
85.16
100.92
53.20
96.37
81.21
74.48
41.08
81.54
79.73
61.76
98.31
81.50
93.94
75.83
72.62
66.69
79.35
94.59
80.41
76.51
74.57
80.51
74.04
69.91
77.22
82.86

134

India Infrastructure Report 2007

Table A5.4
Bharat NirmanTargets for New Connectivity
(Length in km, Habitations in Numbers)

Sl. Name of
No. the State
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

20056
Length
Habs

Andhra Pradesh
0
Arunachal Pradesh
162.5
Assam
605.852
Bihar
1665.831
Chhattisgarh
1501.365
Goa
0
Gujarat
402.955
Haryana
0
Himachal Pradesh
464.583
Jammu & Kashmir
169.972
Jharkhand
1051.779
Karnataka
0
Kerala
0
Madhya Pradesh
2602.139
Maharashtra
0
Manipur
100
Meghalaya
123.609
Mizoram
82.746
Nagaland
93.318
Orissa
1055.95
Punjab
0
Rajasthan
2153.615
Sikkim
75.031
Tamil Nadu
0
Tripura
94.774
Uttar Pradesh
1966.416
Uttaranchal
380.609
West Bengal
739.378
Total
15,492.42

Source: www.pmgsy.org

0
22
421
896
478
0
230
0
127
57
526
0
0
768
0
11
35
12
9
493
0
743
22
0
66
1236
95
787
7034

20067
Length
Habs

20078
Length
Habs

20089
Length
Habs

Total
Length
Habs

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
637.5
85
646.875
86
671.875
105
2118.75
298
2864.063 1988
3889.845 2701 5793.46
4022 13,153.22
9132
3928.75
2062
6121.425 3214 7230.306 3784 18,946.312 9956
4367.606 1310
6450.644 2007 8255.181 2514 20,574.796 6309
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
429.723
246
438.675
251
438.675
251
1710.028
978
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
795.833
209
638.542
166
479.167
123
2378.125
625
1059.49
352
1781.869
593 1405.099
466
4416.43
1468
2594.39
1295
1812.298
901 2319.31
1155
7777.777 3877
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6162.451 1760
8326.848 2399 10,470.17
2905 27,561.608 7832
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
460.714
48
464.286
48
719.048
74
1744.048
181
135.971
39
140.091
40
144.211
41
543.882
155
274.819
39
277.884
39
306.498
43
941.947
133
104.529
10
109.507
10
114.485
11
421.839
40
1985.609
874
2524.021 1087 4427.774 1993
9993.354 4447
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3629.519 1252
3554.217 1225 2123.494
732 11,460.845 3952
104.042
30
108.043
31
132.053
37
419.169
120
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
261.74
183
354.701
248
447.661
313
1158.876
810
2390.632 1504
2059.213 1295 1378.701
867
7794.962 4902
422.008
106
1025.641
257 1020.299
255
2848.557
713
2572.767 2738
3265.307 3473 3643.359 3876 10,220.811 10,874
35,182.16 16130 43,989.93 20,071 51,520.83 23,567 14,6185.34 66,802

Rural Roads
Table A5.5
Bharat Nirman Targets for Upgradation
(Length in Kms)
Sl.
No.

Name of
the State

20056
Length

20067
length

20078
Length

20089
Length

Total
Length

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar
Chhattisgarh
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu & Kashmir
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya Pradesh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Orissa
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh
Uttaranchal
West Bengal
Total

Source: www.pmgsy.org

1821.494
0
0
0
0
190.114
0
229.358
0
0
0
2573.529
524.109
0
4334.365
0
0
0
0
0
423.729
0
0
1297.71
0
0
0
0
11,394.408

2258.652
0
2005.71
2393.617
1986.063
190.114
1557.971
1146.789
1515.923
1007.584
2108.433
2573.529
628.931
5189.543
4334.365
0
587.583
257.998
246.914
4438.574
1483.051
4764.543
196.85
2824.427
373.737
7158.962
889.454
2549.942
54,669.259

2258.652
0
2269.808
3510.638
3240.418
190.114
1557.971
1146.789
1694.268
920.91
2123.494
2573.529
524.109
6614.379
4334.365
0
587.583
257.998
246.914
4663.144
1483.051
4653.74
137.795
2824.427
383.838
6956.031
1283.354
2878.965
59,316.284

2258.652
0
2219.843
3390.958
3222.996
190.114
1413.043
1238.532
1503.185
1007.584
1987.952
2573.529
524.109
6823.53
4334.365
0
665.189
216.718
370.371
5059.445
1680.791
3656.51
98.425
4167.939
414.141
14,408.12
1270.648
4054.053
68,750.742

8597.45
0
6495.361
9295.213
8449.477
760.456
4528.985
3761.468
4713.376
2936.078
6219.879
10,294.116
2201.258
18,627.452
17,337.46
0
1840.355
732.714
864.199
14,161.163
5070.622
13,074.793
433.07
11,114.503
1171.716
28,523.113
3443.456
9482.96
194,130.693

135

136

India Infrastructure Report 2007

Table A5.6
Cost Trends under PMGSY
State

1 Andhra
Pradesh
2 Arunachal
Pradesh
3 Assam
4 Bihar
5 Chhattisgarh
6 Goa
7 Gujarat
8 Haryana
9 Himachal
Pradesh
10 Jammu &
Kashmir
11 Jharkhand
12 Karnataka
13 Kerala
14 Madhya
Pradesh
15 Maharashtra
16 Manipur
17 Meghalaya
18 Mizoram
19 Nagaland
20 Orissa
21 Punjab
22 Rajasthan
23 Sikkim
24 Tamil Nadu
25 Tripura
26 Uttar
Pradesh
27 Uttaranchal
28 West Bengal
Source: www.pmgsy.org

20001
NC
UP

20013
NC
UP

6.72

7.25

14.69

11.49

0.00

12.88

12.29

0.00

41.74
17.82
0.00
0.00
11.46
0.00
11.22

0.00
19.49
9.61
3.19
8.48
5.50
0.00

26.06
21.52
16.03
16.81
11.68
0.00
14.19

25.55
0.00
0.00
0.00
8.85
17.04
0.00

18.78

23.45

24.99

26.18
8.09
17.58
12.07

3.67
6.17
15.41
10.51

0.00

20034
NC
UP
10.23

20045
NC
UP

15.02

20056
NC
UP

15.47

0.00

18.99

No proposal

31.24

0.00

51.03

0.00

24.96

0.00

32.57

0.00

40.36

19.08

19.59
0.00
No proposal
13.29
0.00
0.00
17.48
14.30
0.00

22.03
25.07
17.25
0.00
21.39

0.00
0.00
0.00
21.97
0.00

23.00

22.79

17.53
0.00
23.03

10.82
23.28
0.00

0.00

30.95

24.36

34.90

0.00

19.18
10.55
20.55
14.85

0.00
8.49
12.53
9.63

20.85
0.00
20.97
20.67

0.00
10.80
0.00
0.00

23.73
0.00
29.40
21.00

0.00
16.53
0.00
0.00

0.00
30.41
20.31

17.48
25.26
17.45

16.05
11.36
30.60
17.53
16.74
20.70
16.54
9.06
33.03
15.42
25.16
20.80

11.55
0.00
0.00
0.00
12.77
12.98
12.65
0.00
11.31
12.32
0.00
0.00

18.01
11.03
No proposal
32.28
0.00
16.74
0.00
11.13
10.90
18.39
0.00
16.11
0.00
12.37
0.00
33.32
0.00
14.61
0.00
48.91
0.00
22.32
16.81

19.56
11.30
No proposal
37.52
0.00
32.63
0.00
16.71
0.00
26.40
21.29
17.63
19.07
13.28
0.00
43.67
0.00
15.17
11.22
55.17
0.00
24.45
17.73

26.08

33.25

0.00
12.81
0.00
17.17
16.33
11.62
0.00
11.96
0.00
0.00

8.76
NA
7.69
0.00
2.27
12.69
0.00
7.68
1.21
8.86
5.98
3.93

24.69
18.27
28.42

0.00
17.42
33.11

17.01
46.09
25.15

0.00
0.00
17.25

25.17
17.45

18.70
16.73

28.55
27.12

20.26
0.00

13.83
29.12

18.02
31.92

38.86

0.00

0.00
0.00

23.52
35.03

20067
NC
UP

22.45

19.88

18.81

0.00

Rural Roads

137

REFERENCES
APERP (1997). Rural Transport Survey 1997Andhra Pradesh
Economic Restructuring Project, World Bank, Washington D.C.
C&AG (2006). Performance Audit of PMGSY, C&AG Report No.
13, 2006, GOI, New Delhi.
Fan, S., L. Zhang, and X. Zhang (2000). Growth, Inequality, and
Poverty in Rural China: The Role of Public Investments. Research
Report 125, International Food Policy Research Institute,
Fan, Shenggen and Peter B.R. Hazell and Sukhdeo Thorat (1999).
Linkages between Government Spending, Growth, and Poverty
in Rural India, Research reports 110, International Food Policy
Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington DC.
Gupta, D.P. (2003). Maintenance of Rural Roads: Developing
Policy and Implementation Plan for Uttar Pradesh, mimeo,
Government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow.
Isotalo, Jukka (1992). Community Participation in Rural Road
Maintenance: Finnish Experience and Lessons for Sub-Saharan
Africa, Transportation, Water and Urban Development Department,
The World Bank, Transport No. RD-13. Washington, D.C.
Kumar, P., H.C. Mehndiratta and S. Rokade (2005). Use of
Reinforced Flyash in Highway Embankments, Highway Research
Bulletin, 73, pp. 113.
Kumar, P., S.S. Jain and L.N. Singh (2002). Use of Steel Industry
Slag in Bituminous MixesIndian Experience, Highway Research
Bulletin, 67, pp. 1326.
Misra, A.K., R. Mathur, P. Goel and V.K. Sood (2004). Use of
PhosphogypsumAn Industrial By-Product in Stabilisation of
Black Cotton Soils, Highway Research Bulletin, 70, pp. 6575.

MoRD (2000). Empowerment of Rural India through Connectivity,

Ministry of Rural Development, May, 2000.
(2004). Impact Assessment of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak
YojanaPMGSY, Ministry of Rural Development, 2004.
(2004a). Specifications for Rural Roads, Indian Roads Congress.
Ministry of Rural Development, New Delhi.
(2004b). Rural Road Manual: IRC:SP:202002, Indian Roads
Congress. Ministry of Rural Development, New Delhi.
(2006). Rural Roads Development Plan: Vision2025 (Draft),
Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, New
Delhi.
MoRTH (2000). MoRTH: Norms by the Expert Group 2000,
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, New Delhi.
Narayan, Deepa, Raj Patel, K. Shafft, A. Rademacher and S. KochSchulte (2000). Voices of the Poor. Crying out for Change, The
World Bank, Oxford University Press.
Planning Commission (2005). A quick Concurrent Evaluation of
PMGSY, Project Evaluation office (PEO), Planning Commission,
New Delhi.
Sikdar P.K. (2006). Proposed model of Community Participation
in Rural Road Maintenance, Indian Highways, Vol. 34, No.6,
Special No. June.
Vittal, U.K.G. (2000). Use of fly ash in Roads and Embankments,
in Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Fly Ash Disposal
and Utilisation organized by CBIP and Fly Ash Mission.