Lok Sabha Question No. 5269 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-03-24
Subject: Funds for Quality of Roads under PMGSY
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Mahesh Kashyap

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5269 ANSWERED ON 24/03/2026

## FUNDS FOR QUALITY OF ROADS UNDER PMGSY

## 5269. Shri Mahesh Kashyap:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the amount of funds earmarked annually for ensuring the quality of roads and for their regular maintenance under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY);
- (b) the  amount  of  funds  approved  and  actually  spent  under  the maintenance head under the said scheme during the last three years  in  Chhattisgarh  particularly  in  the  Bastar  Lok  Sabha Constituency;
- (c) whether there is any  provision  for  an  independent  third-party inspection  system  to  monitor  the  quality  of  roads  under  the scheme; and
- (d) if so, the action taken on the shortcomings found during quality testing in the Bastar region?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)

(a) & (b): PMGSY roads are constructed by the State Governments with a  design  life  for  at  least  10  years.  As  per  PMGSY  guidelines, maintenance  of  roads  constructed  under  the  programme  is  the responsibility  of  the  State  Governments,  and  all  road  works  are covered by initial five-year maintenance contracts to be entered into along with the construction contract, with the same contractor, as per the Standard Bidding Document. Maintenance funds to service the contract are required to be budgeted by the State Governments and placed at the disposal of the  State  Rural  Roads Development Agencies (SRRDAs) in a separate maintenance account. On expiry of this 5 year post construction maintenance, PMGSY roads are required to be placed under Zonal maintenance contracts consisting of 5 year maintenance,  including  renewal  as  per  cycle,  from  time  to  time.

Regional  Review  Meetings  (RRMs)  are  conducted  with  the  nodal departments  of  the  state  governments,  at  regular  intervals  as  a measure to monitor the progress & for effective implementation of the  PMGSY  scheme  in  the  States.      Also,  Area  Officer  visits  are organised by the Ministry for physical inspection and verification of all  the  programmes  run  by  the  Department  of  Rural  Development, including PMGSY.

The amount of funds earmarked annually by the State Government  for regular maintenance  of PMGSY roads in the State of Chhattisgarh  is as follows:-

(Rs. in crore)

|   Sl. No. | Financial Year   |   Funds allocated |
|-----------|------------------|-------------------|
|         1 | 2022-23          |            816.05 |
|         2 | 2023-24          |            740.55 |
|         3 | 2024-25          |            328.1  |

Details of the expenditure of the maintenance funds out of the said amount in the Bastar district are as follows:

(Rs. in crore)

| Financial Year   |   Expenditure |
|------------------|---------------|
| 2022-23          |         64.69 |
| 2023-24          |         51.81 |
| 2024-25          |         32.42 |

(c): PMGSY envisages a three-tier Quality Assurance Mechanism to ensure the quality of road works during construction. The first tier of this  mechanism  is  in-house  quality  control  at  the  Programme Implementation  Unit  (PIU)  level.  Second-tier  is  structured  as  an independent  quality  monitoring  at  the  State  level  through  State Quality Monitors (SQMs) in which provision of regular inspection of PMGSY works has been envisaged. The third-tier is an independent monitoring mechanism at the Central level. Under this tier, independent  National  Quality  Monitors  (NQMs)  are  engaged  for inspections  of  PMGSY  roads,  selected  at  random.    Action  Taken Reports of the road works graded as Satisfactory Requiring Improvement  (SRI)  and  Unsatisfactory  (U)  by  the  State  Quality Monitors are monitored by the respective State Governments.  Similarly, for works graded as Satisfactory Requiring Improvement (SRI) and Unsatisfactory (U) on the basis of observations of National Quality Monitors, Action Taken Reports are monitored  and  processed  by  the  National  Rural  Infrastructure Development  Agency  (NRIDA).      To  promote  transparency  in  the Scheme, it is being ensured that independent monitors at the second and the third tier take atleast 10 digital photographs at the work site

including one of the field laboratories, for each road work inspected and upload the inspection reports on PMGSY programme management & monitoring website i.e. OMMAS, to facilitate public viewing of quality of road works being executed under the programme.  Also, the abstract of the said Inspection Report is also uploaded on the website.

Further,  to  promote  transparency  and  effective  monitoring, the Superintending Engineer concerned with the zone/region has been asked  to  request  the  concerned  Member  of  Parliament  and  Zilla Panchayat Pramukh representing the zone/region, once in six months, to  select  any  PMGSY  project(s)  for  joint  inspection.  Similarly,  the Executive Engineer in charge of a division has been asked to request the MLA/ Chairperson of the Intermediate Panchayat concerned, once in three months, for joint inspection, and the Assistant Engineer incharge of the sub-division has been asked to request the concerned Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat once in two months to select any PMGSY project(s) for joint inspection.

(d): As  per  Para  15.1  of  the  Programme  Guidelines,  ensuring  the quality of road works is the responsibility of the State Governments who are implementing the programme. Therefore, any shortcomings found during quality testing are normally sent to the State Quality Coordinator (SQC) for inquiry and necessary action.

In case an adequate response is not received within the stated time  schedule  or  the  reply  seems  insufficient,  the  National  Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA) deputes National Quality Monitors (NQMs), and further processing is done on the basis of the NQM report.

Details of quality inspections conducted by NQMs and SQMs viza-viz  the  shortcomings  in  Bastar  district  during  April,  2023-March, 2026 (upto 19.03.2026 are indicated as below :

|     | Completed Works              | Completed Works   | Ongoing works                | Ongoing works   | Maintenance works            | Maintenance works   |
|-----|------------------------------|-------------------|------------------------------|-----------------|------------------------------|---------------------|
|     | Total no. of works inspected | U%                | Total no. of works inspected | U%              | Total no. of works inspected | U%                  |
| NQM | 7                            | 0%                | 0                            | 0%              | 13                           | 30.77%              |
| SQM | 31                           | 0%                | 11                           | 0%              | 202                          | 0%                  |

U- Unsatisfactory percentage of works inspected.

*****