PRLog (Press Release) –
Actor Manoj Bajpai-on becoming a successful professional in Mumbai sent home to a remote area of rural Bihar a sizable chunk of his earliest earnings-to buy a jeep that would transport the ailing or disabled to nearby towns so that a doctor or a hospital could attend to them. In a interview to media, the actor had said he did it in memory of his mother who died without medical help because there were no roads anywhere near his village and there for no vehicles to transport the sick or inflicted. Cheers to Bajpai and more strength to like minded people, but it certainly makes us wonder how long it would take India to move out the virtual dark ages to wilderness and the absence of communication-in the development subcontinent that is India.
It has taken the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh to remind and admit to the people that corruption had spread like a cancer to every part of the country, when it concern road construction project. There is a crying need for quality benchmarks and quality assurance for rural roads, as in national highways. It need not be reminded that he national highway projects begun under National Democratic Alliance governance and touched as former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's dream project had faced many a hiccup including killing of an honest, forthright engineer who protested against and did not allow corrupt practices to take over in-again-Bihar.
An independent national quality monitor has found that more then half the work done under the PM scheme is of unsatisfactory quality on an average in several states. It is also pointed out that it is important to make road construction labour intensive as it could increase jobs in the sector by at list five times. Prime Minister Dr. Singh had to confess at a national conference and exposition on rural roads held in the Capital in the third week of May that corruption in road construction projects has spread like a cancer to every
corner of our country. I hope we can implement both Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and Bharat Nirman without this affliction and in the transparent and accountable manner, he said.
The PM, who realized a Rural Development Ministry document Rural Road development Plan Vision 2025, said the fact that huge stretches of road get worn during every monsoon despite crores of rupees invested every year on road construction and maintenance means that we need quality bench marks and quality assurance for rural roads, as we have for national highways.While we make every effort to mobilize resources for launching new construction project, we display a niggardly attitude when it comes to their maintenance, he said. He also added that while the Center was supportive in funding these programmes, the state governments had to make commensurate efforts to ensure quality and timely completion. Spelling and priority areas, Dr. Singh had to tell the experts that there is a need for laying multi-laned highways connecting the country. This was being done through a massive expansion of the National Highway Development Programme with an investment of Rs.2,20,000 crores. Second we need a network rural roads linking our villages to towns, to market centers and tour highways. Third, we need good quality border roads and better connectivity in the northeastern region. Without connectivity, the rural economy would not develop, the Prime Minister warned. A random inspection of road works under PMGSY ordered by the Ministry of Rural Development and carried out by independent national quality monitors during July 2004 and September 2006 found substantial hart of work under the scheme of unsatisfactory quality in several states including Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Vision 2025 document estimates a loss of rural roads assets worth Rs 10,000 crores every year, or equivalent of 40,000 kilometers of roads being eroded, for want of proper maintenance.
The Prime Minister has also said it was important to make road construction a labour intensive activity as it could increase jobs in the sector by at least five times. The vision 2025 document pegs the current employment potential for rural roads at around 46 crore man days per year, which it projects would rise to over 95 crore man days by 2017-2022.
The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana was launched in December 2000 to give a boost to a rural connectivity. The scheme provides for all habitations with a population or more than 500 to be provided with all weather roads. It is estimated that about 1.79 lakh unconnected habitations need to be taken up under the programme. This involves new construction of 3,75 lakh kilometers at an estimated cost ok Rs 78,000 crores and improvements of 3,72 lakh kilometers at a cost of Rs 59,000 crores. Up to December 2006, about 83,000 habitations were covered and rural road works for an amount of Rs 38,387 crores were sanctioned.
