Lok Sabha Question No. 953 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-02-08
Subject: Monitoring of Construction of Rural Roads
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: RAM CHARITRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 953

TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.02.2018

## MONITORING OF CONSTRUCTION OF RURAL ROADS

## 953. SHRI RAM CHARITRA NISHAD:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  proposes  to  ensure  efficient  and  stringent  monitoring  of construction of rural roads and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government also proposes to examine global standards in the application of technology for road construction; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV)

- (a): Rural Roads' is a State subject and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a one-time special intervention to provide rural connectivity, by way of a single all-weather road,  to  the  eligible  unconnected  habitations  in  the  core  network.  PMGSY  is  executed through  State  Rural  Roads  Development  Agency  (SRRDA)  at  State  level  and  Programme Implementation Units (PIUs) at district levels and timely completion of PMGSY roads is the responsibility  of  the  respective  State  Government.  The  construction  of  rural  roads  under PMGSY is regularly monitored by way of Regional Review Meetings (RRMs), Performance Review Committee Meeting (PRC), Pre-Empowered Committee and Empowered Committee Meetings  with  the  States.  At  district  level,  the  District  Development  Coordination  and Monitoring  Committee  (Disha)  headed  by  a  Member  of  Parliament  (LS)  monitors  the implementation of various schemes of Government of India including PMGSY. In addition to this,  review  meetings  are  also  held  by  Secretary/  Additional  Secretary,  Ministry  of  Rural Development with  Chief  Secretaries  of  the  States.  For  effective  monitoring  of  road  works constructed  under  PMGSY,  an  On-line  Management,  Monitoring  and  Accounting  System (OMMAS)  (www.omms.nic.in)  has  also  been  developed.  A  three-tier  Quality  Control mechanism viz. Project Inspection Unit (PIU), State Quality Monitors (SQM) and National Quality Monitors (NQM) is envisaged under the PMGSY for ensuring construction of quality road works. Further, the Government has also initiated a project to use geo- informatics using satellite imagery, on a real time basis, to verify the progress of implementation of PMGSY as reported electronically by the States.

(b) & (c): Indian  Roads  Congress  (IRC),  an  autonomous  body  of  Ministry  of  Road, Transport  and  Highways  (MoRTH),  prescribes  the  standards  for  construction  of  roads including  PMGSY  roads.  Under  PMGSY,  efforts  have  been  made  to  adopt  various  new technologies  including  stabilization  techniques,  cold  mix,  waste  plastic,  nano-technology, natural and man-made textiles, use of locally available materials, use of waste materials, etc. The  States  have  reported  to  have  completed  10,984  Km  of  road  length  using  such technologies under PMGSY since its inception.

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