New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has asked the Union Rural Development Ministry to “tighten its grip” in its supervision of road construction in rural areas under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), flagging the use of poor-quality materials. Since PMGSY’s inception in 2000, over seven lakh kilometres of roads have been built under the flagship scheme to boost connectivity.
In the Action Taken Report (ATR) — tabled in Parliament last week — the parliamentary panel on rural development and panchayati raj, which assessed the rural road scheme, did not accept the ministry’s explanation regarding the quality check mechanism the latter has put in place.
The panel, led by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi, reiterated the recommendation that it had made in its original report on PMGSY, which was tabled in Parliament in July, and urged the Department of Rural Development under the ministry to tighten its grip over monitoring the quality of construction of roads under PMGSY.
In its report tabled in July, the parliamentary panel had expressed its displeasure and said that compromise on the quality of construction of roads under PMGSY was “unacceptable”.
It added that the quality of the construction of roads was compromised due to low bids by contractors and a provision in the PMGSY that allowed them to sublet the work to small contractors.
While the roads constructed under PMGSY are expected to have a design life of at least 10 years, the panel in its report in July said, “Instances are galore wherein the attention of the committee has been drawn towards the poor road materials used in the construction of roads at many places, which are not able to sustain the rigours of weather and traffic volume even for one season and are washed away with the onset of monsoon.”
In its response to the panel’s July observations, the ministry had listed the measures taken, such as ensuring that contractors have sufficient background in good quality work, additional bank guarantee and provision for termination of contract to avoid abnormally low bids. These responses were included in the ATR.
However, the standing committee in its ATR said that these steps did not address the problem.
“Despite such stringent provisions put in place by the ministry, the committee are concerned to note the instances of poor quality and early deterioration of roads under PMGSY,” the panel said.
It then recommended the ministry to look into the implementation aspect of their provisions with greater focus and ensure their compliance at ground level.
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Steps taken by ministry to check quality
The ministry has set up a three-tiered quality audit mechanism to check the construction quality of roads under PMGSY.
It involves checks by the Programme Implementation Units (PIUs) to ensure process control through mandatory tests on material and workmanship at the field laboratory.
The second tier consists of checks by State Quality Monitors (SQMs) to ensure that work is inspected at three stages of construction.
The third tier consists of checks by independent National Quality Monitors (NQMs) deployed by the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA) for random road and bridge inspection, according to the ministry.
On 12 December, Minister of State for Rural Development Sadvi Niranjan Jyoti answered a Parliament question on the quality check mechanism that the ministry has put in place.
According to the information provided by the MoS about the details of “unsatisfactory” construction work found during an inspection by SQMs and NQMs, 9.63 percent of the completed works inspected by NQMs were found to be unsatisfactory in 2022-23.
When it comes to maintenance of these rural roads, the NQMs found that 21.88 percent of maintenance work was unsatisfactory in 2022-23, added the response.
“The works reported as unsatisfactory are taken up with the state governments for rectification and submission of Action Taken Reports,” Jyoti said in the response.
Concerns over environmental hazards
The panel in the ATR also raised concern over possible environmental hazards due to the use of plastic in road construction, while appreciating the use of green technology in the construction of rural roads under PMGSY.
In its response to the concern raised by the committee on the usage of plastic in road construction, the ministry said, as regards concerns about the toxicity and environmental suitability of adding plastic, separate studies have not been carried out. The recommendation of the committee has been noted for compliance.”
The committee has recommended the ministry get a study done in this regard at the earliest.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)
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