Uttaranchal University

UTTARANCHAL UNIVERSITY
Village Road Construction

Submitted in fulfillment of the award of

Degree of Bachelor of Technology
in
Civil Engineering

Uttaranchal Institute of Technology,

Uttaranchal University Dehradun
Uttarakhand

Submitted by

KULA KUSUM CHAKMA

Enrollment No. – UU050107024

Under the Supervision of

Er. CHINMOY KHALAI

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

UTTRANCHAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
UTTARANCHAL UNIVDRSITY DEHRADUN
UTTARAKHAND 248007

29November,2018
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CERTIFICATE
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DECLARATION

I certify that the work contain on this report has been done by me under the guidance of Mr.
Chinmoy Khalai. The work has not been submitted to any other institude for any other
degree or diploma I have conformed to the norms and guidelines given in the ethical code of
conduct of the institude.
Whenever I have used materials (data, theoretical analysis, figures and text) from other
sources, I have given due credit to them by citing them in the text of the thesis and giving
their details in the references.

KULA KUSUM CHAKMA

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I wish to express deep sense of gratitude to my guide for his valuable guidance by Mr.
CHINMOY KHALAI, constant support, and encouragement throughout the report
formation. His attitude of generation innovation solutions to problems and making thoughts
not reality through hard work are a inspiration solution source for me. His approachable
nature creates a comfortable working Environment. It has been a great learning experience
working under him.
I would also like to pay my sincere to Department of Civil Engineering for providing all
facilities necessary for the report formation. I am also thankful to all faculty member
Department.
I would also like to thanks to each of my project mates for their continue support during the
report formation.

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ABSTRACT

This report is a summary of all the work experience I have been able to gather during my
training programmed in PWD,Gandacheera,Dhalai,Tripura. On village road construction.
During this period I acquired practical knowledge on how the village road are constructed on
the sites. This report discusses the field knowledge gained during the training period and also
learned how to interconnect technical knowledge in field.
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LIST OF CONTENT

Introduction: Village Roads……………………………………………………………. 6

Chapter 1: Working Group on Rural Roads ………………………………………….7-8

1.1- Constitution of Working Group
1.2 -Meeting of Working Group
1.3 - Structure of the Report

Chapter 2: Overview of Development of Rural Roads ……………………………….9-14

2.1 - Historical Development
2.1.1- Long Term Policy Issues
2.1.2 - Rural Roads in Five Year Plans
2.2 - Socio-Economic Development by Rural Roads
2.2.1- Impact on Rural Economy
2.2.2 - Poverty Alleviation
2.3 - Recommendations of National Rural Road Development Committee
2.4 - Recommendations

Chapter 3: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Bharat Nirman……………15-18

3.1- Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)
3.1.1 - Strategy and Objectives
3.1.2 - Initiatives for Structured Development
3.1.3 - Assessment of Connectivity Requirements
3.1.4 - Achievement Till 10 Plan
3.1.5 - Analysis of Performance of States

3.2 - Bharat Nirman

3.2.1 - Objectives
3.2.2 - Target and Achievement till 10th Five Year Plan
3.3 - Recommendations

Chapter 4: Materials and Construction Technology ……………………………….19-22

6.1- Pavement Materials
6.1.1- Conventional Materials
6.1.2 - Locally Available Low Grade/Marginal Materials
6.1.3 - Non-Conventional Materials
6.2 - Construction Methods and Technology
6.2.1 - Traditional Methods and Technology
6.2.2 - Labour-based Technology
6.2.3 - Intermediate Construction Technology and Equipment
6.3 - Design Modifications
6.4 - Cost Comparison
6.5 - Employment Potentials in Rural Road Sector
6.6 - Recommendations

Chapter 5: Maintenance Management of Rural Roads ……………………………23-26

7.1 - Maintenance Needs and Criteria
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7.2 - Asset Management Strategy

7.3 - Maintenance Interventions and Technology
7.4 - Maintenance Management System
7.5 - Privatized Contract Management 4
7.6 - Community Participation in Maintenance

Chapter 6: Environmental and Social Safeguard Issues ………………………….27-30

10.1 - Environmental Issues
10.2 - Social Impacts
10.3 - Afforestation
10.3.1 Plantation Strategy
10.3.2 Tree Plantation and Mechanism for Sustainability
10.4 - Impact of Land Acquisition
10.5 - Environmental Code of Practice
10.6 - Recommendations

Chapter 7: Issues Related to Capacity Development …………………………..…31-35

11.1 - Institutional Development
11.2. - Panchayati Raj Institutions
11.3 - Construction Industry
11.4 - Training and Development
11.4.1 - Training of Skilled and Semi-skilled Workers
11.4.2 - Training of Ground Level Workers
11.4.3 - Training Modules
11.5 - Decentralized Maintenance
11.6 - Sustainability of Rural Roads
11.7 - Recommendations

References……………………………………………………………………………36
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LIST OF FIGURE

Fig1 Site location(Rashyabari Page no 36

road)
Fig2 Site location(during Page no 36
construction)
Fig3 Site location(after Page no 37
construction)
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INTRODUCTION

Rural roads are the tertiary road system in total road network which provides accessibility for
the rural habitations to market and other facility centers. In India, during the last five
decades, rural roads are being planned and programmed in the context of overall rural
development, and tried to provide all- weather connectivity with some level of
achievement. The long term road development plans for the country provided policy
guidelines and priorities for rural roads, while the funds for rural roads were allocated in
the Five Year Plans.

Recently, during the last five years Government of India has undertaken a dedicated program
known as ‘Pradhan Mantra Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)’ to provide rural connectivity
to all habitations under the Ministry of Rural Development. More recently, Bharat
Nirman, a time bound business plan adapted to provided rural infrastructure during 2005-
09, rural roads have been taken as one of the components and blended with PMGSY
program. . It targeted to provide connectivity to all habitations having population of 1000
and above (500 and above in hilly, desert and tribal areas) by 2009 and also aimed to
upgrade the existing rural roads for overall network development, which is a more
objective approach.

To achieve the targets of Bharat Nirman, 1,46,185 km length of rural roads is proposed to be
constructed to benefit 66,802 unconnected eligible habitations in the country. It is also
proposed to upgrade nearly 1.94 lakh km length of the existing rural roads which are
identified as the through routes of the core network. The total investment on rural
connectivity under Bharat Nirman has been estimated at Rs. 48,000 crore during 2005-
2009. Since 11th Five Year Plan (2007-2011) goes beyond the targeted period of Bharat
Nirman, assessment of physical targets and upgradation requirements, have been
estimated based on the experiences of PMGSY.

The financial requirement during the 11 Five Year Plan is estimated based on the physical
targets proposed and an amount of Rs. 79,000 crore is required to fulfill the targets
estimated for new connectivity and upgradation. For new connectivity alone, total
amount required is estimated as Rs. 50,000 crore for construction of 1.65 lakh km length
benefiting approximately 78000 habitations. The total estimated amount required for the
upgradation of the existing rural roads of about 1.16 lakh km requires about Rs.29,000
crore during the 11 Five Year Plan period as per PMGSY norms. In addition, State
Governments have to borne for the additional requirement of upgradation and as well as
periodic renewal of about 1.2 lakh km length of core network, which may be in the order
of Rs.25,000 crore. For routine maintenance and periodical renewal of the core network,
an estimated length of 1.4 million km identified from the district rural road plans (DRRP)
needs Rs.1,40,000 million every year during the plan period.
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Chapter 1
Working Group on Rural Roads
1.1 Constitution of Working Group In the context of formulation of the 11th Five
Year Plan, it was decided by the Planning Commission to set up a working group on Rural
Roads. Planning Commission (Transportation Division), Government of India vide memo No.
18/3/2006 –TPT, dated 24th April, 2006 constituted the committee with Secretary, Ministry of
Rural Development as Chairman and Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development as
Convener. Along with the constitution of the Working Group the Planning Commission has
indicated the terms of reference.
1.2 Meeting of Working Group The first meeting of the working group was held on the 9th
August, 2006 at 2:30 pm in UNNATI, Krishi Bhawan under the Chairmanship of Secretary,
Ministry of Rural Development. In order to facilitate structured deliberations, a discussion
paper was prepared based on the terms of reference, highlighting issues on the development of
Rural Roads in the 11th Five Year Plan.
The working group, after deliberating the issues suggested to have more focus on the three
areas (i) Planning and Design; (ii) Material, Construction and Maintenance (iii) Financial
Aspects and recommended for the formation of two sub-groups one on ‘Planning and Design
of Rural Roads’ and on ‘Material, Construction and Maintenance of Rural Roads’. The
meeting of the first sub-committee on Planning and Design of Rural Roads was held on 28
August 2006 and the second sub-group on Material, Construction and Maintenance of Rural
Roads met twice on 28 September 2006 & 11 October 2006. The second meeting of the
Working Group was held on 13 November 2006 and the issues were discussed. The working
group recommended the preparation of draft final report with the issues and incorporating the
recommendations of the sub-groups. Accordingly, the Working Groups report on Rural Roads
in 11th Five Year Plan is structured as detailed in the following section.

1.3 Structure of the Report It is proposed to present the report in 14 chapters including
this introductory chapter. The gist of each chapter is presented below:
Chapters
2. Overview of developments of Rural Roads up to the Tenth FYP – achievements in
different Plans; Accessibility criteria by Planning Commission for different facilities in
villages
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3. PMGSY and Bharat Nirman for Rural Accessibility Provision; Strategy and objective;
Connectivity status; Achievements (documentation, OMMS, etc); Institutional framework,
etc.
4. Physical targets – 10th FYP, 11th FYP and spillover to 12th FYP; Financial requirements;
for new connectivity and upgradation Dedicated road fund – pool of funds from other
programmes, etc. and maintenance strategies.

5. Planning and design of rural roads in 11th FYP – Network planning (including
prioritisation of villages, accessibility criteria), Intra-village road development, multiple
connectivity, Geo-information technology for database, etc; Design of rural road – complete
with all features of road (including all stage of engineering and design), pavement design with
all options available; Common standard and specifications for rural roads constructed under
all programmes and funding sources – paved and unpaved criteria
6. Materials and construction technology for rural roads in 11th Plan; Intermediate
technologies for construction; Alternate (non-conventional) materials for rural road
construction – resource mapping; Labour based vs. mechanised construction
7. Maintenance management for rural roads – technical criteria for interventions; privatized
contract management – performance based; hierarchical responsibility of management;
community participation in maintenance
8. Looking beyond PMGSY – existing other programmes, issues; utilization of capacity built
under PMGSY and Bharat Nirman
9. Quality assurance – Quality control in planning, design, construction and in sustaining the
asset (rural roads); Quality control system (including institutional set up, field laboratory, and
trained man-power)
10. Environment and social safeguard issues – plantation of trees, land acquisition impacts
(marginal farmers), etc.
11. Issues relating to capacity development – Institutional (PRI, PIU, SRRDA, etc),
contracting industry, planning and design, construction man-power (skilled, unskilled and
semi-skilled), maintenance
12. Road safety issues in relation to rural roads – Monitoring of road safety for rural roads,
RSA for the rural road design and RSAR, campaign for public awareness.
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Chapter 2
Overview of Development of Rural Roads

2.1 Historical Development

Since 1940’s the Government of India and the State Government had drawn several policies,
programs and conceived various schemes for the development of rural roads in India. The
policies framed and targets were set under the long-term road development plans and
accordingly funds were allocated in various rural development programs/schemes under the
Five Year Plans.

2.1.1 Long Term Policy Issues

During the early part of the century, it was realized that in order to achieve sustainable growth
in agriculture and industrial sectors in India, the then Government of India appointed Jaykar
Committee to advise suitable road policy for India. It was in the year 1943, a group of
Engineers formulated the First Twenty Year Road Development Plan popularly known as
Nagpur Plan (1943- 1961) towards planning of the road system in India. Subsequently
Bombay Plan, the Second Twenty Year Road Development Plan (1961-81) was formulated
and recommended for implementation. In continuation, third Twenty Year Road Development
Plan, known as Lucknow Plan (1981-2001) was conceived and implemented.

2.1.2 Rural Roads in Five Year Plans

Constitutionally, the development of rural roads is the responsibility of the State Government
in India. Because of this, the rural roads received very little attention from the Central
Government until 1967, when a special committee, under the chairmanship of Shri H.P. Sinha
was appointed. The committee studied the rural roads and the connectivity pattern and
recommended certain criteria for developing and for allocation of budget for rural roads.
Since Fifth Five Year Plan, funds are allocated under various rural development program such
as Minimum Needs Program (MNP), National Rural Employment Program (NREP), Rural
Landless Employment Guarantee Program (RLEGP), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), etc for
the development of rural roads.

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During the Fifth Five Year Plan period (1974-1979) rural roads were included as a part of
Minimum Needs Program (MNP) of the Central Government and received importance for
development. The program envisaged connectivity of all villages with population of 1500 and
above, as per 1971 census, with an all- weather road by the end of the Fifth Five Year Plan.
It also proposed a cluster approach for connectivity in respect of hilly, coastal, tribal and
desert areas, where the villages are smaller in population size.
In the year 1978 a Working Group on Rural Roads was set up by the Planning Commission of
India to formulate connectivity criteria and make projections of road length and estimate
requirement of funds for development of rural roads. The Committee made an assessment of
existing rural road connectivity and estimated that an amount around Rs.11,000 crores (at
1978 prices) would be required to connect all villages with all-weather road. Some of the
recommendations of the Working Group were taken into consideration while formulating
budget for road development in the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85) and about 30% of the total
road outlay was allocated for rural road sector. Similarly, the plan outlay under the Seventh
Five Year Plan (1985-90) was Rs.1729.40 crore for providing rural connectivity.

2.2 Socio-Economic Development by Rural Roads

Rural roads are the basic infrastructure requirement and play a vital role in socio-economic
upliftment of rural community. They contribute significantly in rural development by creating
opportunities to access goods and services located in nearby villages or major town/market
centres. Provision of rural roads increases mobility of men and materials thus facilitating
economic growth. These, in turn, assist in reducing poverty and leads over all social
development.
Several studies have already established that there exist a strong relationship between rural
roads and socio-economic development. Hine (1982) reviewed several impact studies
conduced in about 16 countries. Most of these case studies considered are optimistic about
the relationship between road investment and agricultural development.
In India, even during the ’80s, studies on socio-economic aspects of rural roads were
conducted in selected nine districts under the aegis of Indian Roads Congress. The objective
of these studies was to find out and quantify the possible impact of roads on socio-economic
development in rural areas. CRRI (1987) carried out the compilation and analysis of the data
for the nine districts, to quantify the aggregate impacts. Some of the findings are:

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(a) increase in agricultural production due to road facility, (b) increase in fertilizer
consumption, (c) increase in non-agricultural activities, and (d) better utilization of existing
facilities like, school, health, banks and post offices. Similarly, a socio-economic survey
conducted in a remote area in India by CRRI in 1989, showed that the villages located on the
main road are comparatively well developed than those away from the road. The rural
transport study carried out (NCAER and IIMB, 1989) for two different periods in 1979 and
1989 revealed that after the development of rural roads, there was a change in transport modes
in rural areas and also an increase in economic activities.
The economic analysis of rural roads carried out for selected rural road projects financed by
World Bank in Morocco (World Bank, 1996) is one of the major studies which attempted to
find out the rate of return on the investment made. The study quantified the benefits based on
savings in vehicle operating cost (VOC) compared to the original i.e. unpaved roads. The
economic analysis carried out for rural access project (World Bank, 1999) in Bhutan has
shown significant transport cost saving. The mule transport costs are as high as 6 times of
truck transport cost. The net agricultural benefits, educational benefits and health benefits
were calculated and added in the benefit stream. Recently, a similar study by CRRI (2001) has
been carried out to conduct the comparative evaluation of rural roads. The major aim of the
study was to compute the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) for the investment made on project
roads constructed under the Agricultural Development Program (ADP) in Rajasthan. The
benefits are estimated by taking net incremental agricultural production value, net agricultural
transport cost savings and non-agricultural vehicle operating cost savings. The overall average
IRR for the selected 21 road projects was found to be 15.64 per cent. In addition, this study
results also showed positive relationship between the road improvement interventions with
socio-economic parameters.

2.2.1 Impact on Rural Economy

Ministry of Rural Development had commissioned a series of quick assessments of
socioeconomic 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.
The impacts of rural roads are summarized as given below:

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o Improvement in transportation services:- which leads to improved access to market centres

for the rural producers, better availability of form inputs at reduced prices; o Diversification
of agricultural:– improved market access promotes shift in favour of cash crops and
commercialization of agricultural activities. o Diversification of livelihood opportunities:–
better connectivity enhances employment opportunities in the non-agricultural sectors. o
Improved services:– improved road connectivity enhances access to education, health and
financial services. o Increase in the outreach of the State:– Improved rural roads facilitates
better availability of public services and functionaries in rural areas.

2.2.2 Poverty Alleviation

Asian Development Bank (2002) also conducted a study on ‘Impact of Rural Roads on
Poverty Reduction – A Case Study’. Study concluded that rural roads are the important
enabling conditions for livelihood development for people in rural areas. The poor and very
poor primarily benefit through the indirect impact of road improvements, of better access to
state services and improved provision of services to the villages, and opportunities in
alternative livelihood income stream.
Better rural infrastructure has primarily two effects – promotion of economic growth and
decline in the incidence of poverty. Jocelyn A Songco (Columbia University and the World
Bank, 2002) in a study pointed out that rural infrastructure investments benefit the rural poor
through increased incomes and improved consumption patterns. Some empirical studies
illustrate a strong relationship between infrastructure and economic growth. According to
World Bank sources, 1% increase in infrastructure stock is associated with a proportionate
increase in GDP across all countries. A specific sectoral study by Deichman et al for Mexico
shows that a 10% increase in market access leads to increase in labor productivity by 6%.
Linkages between public investment on rural connectivity, agricultural growth and poverty
alleviation in the Indian context were investigated in a research report authored by Shengenn
Fan, Peter Hazell and Sukhadeo Thorat (Research Paper No.110, IFPRI, 1999). Using State-
level data on Government spending from 1970 to 1993, this study attempted to quantitatively
measure how different types public investment affect agricultural growth and rural poverty.
The model estimated the number of poor people who would be raised above the poverty line
for each Rs.1 million (1993 constant prices) of additional investment in eight different
components of public spending — roads, research and extension, education, rural
development, health, irrigation, soil and water conservation and power.
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Accordingly, Government expenditures were ranked in terms of their effectiveness in poverty

alleviation. The findings of this study are striking. Government spending on roads was found
to have the largest impact on rural poverty. For each Rs.1 million increase in investment in
roads, 165 poor people would be enabled to cross the poverty line. Its impact on poverty was
nearly twice as large as that the next best poverty reducer – Government investment in
agricultural R&D. Investment in roads was also found to be contributing significantly to
productivity growth. An additional Rs.100 billion (in 1993 prices) invested in roads would
increase productivity growth by more than 3 percent.

2.3 Recommendations of National Rural Road Development Committee (NRRDC)

Government of India constituted a National Rural Road Development Committee (NRRDC)
during the year 2000 with an aim to provide connectivity to all unconnected villages. The
Committee has also been assigned to identify the road length required for total connectivity,
the detailed specifications for construction of all-weather rural road, fund requirement and
suggestions for implementation mechanism. The committee has estimated that there are
2,90,480 unconnected villages as on 31-3-2000 and assuming a required length of 4.0 km per
village, calculated the total road length required would be around 11,62,000 km to provide at
least one connectivity to each of these villages. The estimated cost of connecting only the
unconnected villages with black topped roads is about Rs.1,11,000 crore. A sum of
Rs.1,79,200 crore was estimated for providing black topped road to the existing unconnected
villages, black topping of present metalled all-weather road and for provision of major and
minor bridges. Since a huge amount of fund is required, the Committee suggested phasing out
the works.
The Committee has also suggested constituting a centralized agency at national level for
raising and allocating of funds and a separate cell for managing the actual construction of
rural roads in each district. The funds to be raised for the program are based on diesel cess,
from development activities, issuing of tax-free bonds, and loans from domestic and external
sources. It also suggested launching an Online Management and Monitoring System (OMMS)
for effective implementation and monitoring of the program. In order to ensure speedy and
systematic execution of the program, the Committee has suggested to the Union Government
to set up ‘National Rural Road Development Agency’ (NRRDA).

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The government accepted most of the recommendations and constituted a body empowered to
chalk out the detailed program for development of rural roads. A special rural road
development program known as ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ was launched in
December 2000 with an objective of connecting the unconnected habitations in a phased
manner. The unit for connectivity has been shifted from village to habitation to cover more
people with accessibility.

2.4 Recommendations
Rural roads have been proved to be catalytic for economic development and poverty
alleviation in rural areas this objective should be pursued further with more vigor. They are
also essential for providing basic access to the services like health, education, administration,
etc.

In future, the target should be to connect all habitations with all-weather rural roads instead
of fair weather roads as was done earlier.

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Chapter 3
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Bharat Nirman
3.1 Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)
On the recommendations of the National Rural Road Development Committee, Government
of India has launched a nation-wide program called ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’
(PMGSY) on the 25 December 2000. For the first time the focus is directly on the rural
connectivity under dedicated road fund. The objective of the program is to provide road
connectivity, through good all- weather roads to all rural habitations of targeted population.

3.1.1 Strategy and Objectives

The focus of the program is to construct good quality all-weather roads for new connectivity
and upgradation of existing roads. For the first time the focus is directly on the rural
connectivity under dedicated road fund, and the 50% of the cess amount collected on high
speed diesel has been allocated for this program. In earlier programs, the village with a
defined population was the target for providing connectivity, while the PMGSY envisage
‘habitation’ as the unit, to reach out to more settlements and more people with accessibility.
The program aimed to provide connectivity to all habitations up to 500 and above population
in plain and in respect of hilly, desert and tribal areas the habitations with 250 and above
population is targeted. It was planned to provide connectivity in a phased manner. In the
general order of priority for connectivity, first priority is accorded for new connectivity. The
order of priority for new connectivity and upgradation is given in Table 3.1.

3.1.2 Initiatives for Structured Development

The programme is being coordinated at Central level by the National Rural Development
Agency (NRRDA) through Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. At State
level the programme is executed through agency known as State Rural Road Development
Agency(SRRDA). At the District level, the programme is planned, co-ordinated, and
implemented through the executing agencies known as Programme Implementation Unit
(PIU). The program is being implemented by preparing the detailed district level rural road
plan and the core network by the PIUs, which provide prioritized links for connectivity of
rural habitations satisfying the qualifying population criteria.

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These plans are approved at various level d Panchayati Raj System and at state level and
national level organization. Detailed project reports (DPR) are prepared for the prioritized
links by the PIUs for execution. The DPRs are scrutinized by the selected State Level
Technical Agencies before their approval by the State and Central level agencies. The projects
are implemented by the PIUs and are monitored by a three tier quality control system.

3.1.3 Assessment of Connectivity Requirements

When the PMGSY was launched in 2000, it was estimated that about 3,30,000 habitations out
of a total of 8,25,000 habitations were without any all-weather access. As per the initial
estimates at the time of launching PMGSY, about 1,60,000 habitations were expected to be
covered under the program with an anticipated investment of Rs.60,000 crore.

3.1.4 Achievement Till 10th Plan

The proposals prepared by states based on inputs provided by PRIs were submitted to
NRRDA for year-wise implementing of the program. NRRDA approved the proposals under
PMGSY prepared by States after scrutiny of NRRDA and cleared in different phases since
2001. The total road length constructed up to end of phase IV is about 93,000 km. Against the
target originally set for the new connectivity, the proposals cleared so far (May 2006) are
expected to provide connectivity to only 56638 habitations. The works completed so far have
provided connectivity to only 27,303 habitations. The status of habitations coverage achieved
so far under this scheme has been indicated in Table 3.3.
The figures show that only 15.80 % of habitations have been actually connected so far, it is
envisaged that the scheme would miss the 10 Plan target (original target of PMGSY) 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.

3.1.5 Analysis of Performance of states

A glance at the Physical and Financial performance of the States under PMGSY/ Bharat
Nirman clearly brings out the fact that those States who took initiatives in streamlining the
institutional arrangements have performed well compared to the others.

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The total value of the proposals cleared so far is Rs.31750 crores out of which Rs.17483
crores has been released. More than 80 % of amount released has been spend by constructing
total road length of 94,000 km comprising of 32,000 road works. The target upto Phase-IV
under PMGSY revealed that on an average, about 60% of total sanctioned road works and
52.6 % of sanctioned road length are completed in time. Nearly 83 % of total amount
released has been spent by the States agencies to complete the physical targets. Out of all, 15
States have achieved the physical targets of number of road works and construction of road
length more than the national level average. Remaining states are still lagging behind. The
data shows that some states have steadily increased their absorbing capacity, but still they
have to enhance their capacity to absorb the yearly allocation in coming years, and to achieve
the proposed targets of 11th FYP in time.
While comparing the financial performance the states viz., Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan have spend more than 90 % of the amount released and could
achieve well above the national average figure of the road works and length of roads. In the
states like Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala,
Uttranchal and West Bengal performance is less than the national average of the sanctioned
road works, length and amount released.
While some of the above States may have adverse climatic conditions that cannot be the sole
reason for poor performance. Some of the constraints could be: limited working season, delay
in statutory clearance from forest department, non-availability of required land, limitations of
qualified manpower and contractors, over and above non-availability of dedicated personnel
for the program with streamlined institutional arrangements. States may have to look into the
issues, examine critically and come out with mitigation measures to achieve the targets, as
planned.

3.2 Bharat Nirman

3.2.1 Objectives
It is a flagship program of the Government of India conceived as time bound business plan to
provide rural infrastructure during 2005-06 to 2008-09. Six major rural infrastructure namely,
rural roads, telephone connection, irrigation, water supply, housing and electrification are
identified and over Rs.1,74,000 crore has year marked for development.

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The program was initiated during the year 2005-06, under rural road component, it targeted 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, it also includes
an upgradation component in order to ensure farm to market connectivity.

3.2.2 Target and Achievement till 10th Five Year Plan

To achieve the targets of Bharat Nirman, 1,46,185 km of rural road is proposed to be
constructed to benefit 66,802 unconnected eligible habitations in the country. It is also
proposed to upgrade nearly 1.94 lakh km of the existing rural roads which are identified
through routes of the core network. The total investment on rural connectivity under Bharat
Nirman has been estimated at Rs. 48,000 crore during 2005-2009. Table 3.4 provides the
national level habitation connectivity targets set and achievements under PMGSY/Bharat
Niman, and Table 3.5 provides the national level road length in km for connecting the above-
targeted habitations under PMGSY/Bharat Niman.

3.3 Recommendations
For integrated development of rural connectivity, upgradation is required to be included in
addition to new connectivity links, as envisaged in Bharat Nirman. Rural roads
development targets (based on 2001 census and to modify after next census) will require
continuance of the program even beyond 11th Plan period.

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Chapter 4
Materials and Construction Technology
6.1 Pavement Materials
Recognizing that the rural roads are essentially low cost roads, the specifications for
pavement materials in various layers should be as economical as possible, consistent with the
traffic expected to use the road and the climatic condition. In this angle, the local materials
which are cheaper and involve minimum haulage should be used to maximum extent feasible.
A detailed mapping of these local materials has to be carried out using the satellite image
processing and remote sensing technologies. The soil and materials maps further can be
updated based on the data obtained from the DPRs prepared for the implementation of
PMGSY projects since 2001.
6.1.1 Conventional Materials
For road construction, the conventional materials required are soil, stone aggregates, bitumen,
cement and steel. Considering the targets of new construction and upgradation of about 4 lacs
km of rural roads during the 11th FYP period and periodic maintenance of about 2 lacs km per
year, broadly the materials required would be: aggregate about 24.3 million cum, bitumen 0.9
million tonne per year and cement 0.5 - .035 million tonne per year. The requirement of these
materials on other construction sectors would be far greater. Nevertheless requirement for
rural roads is also considerable. Accordingly, there is a need to reduce the consumption of
construction materials of high quality and initiative be taken to use of locally available
materials which can satisfy the design requirement of rural roads.
6.1.2 Locally Available Low Grade/Marginal Materials
Surveys carried out in the country for different types of low grade materials revealed that
there is a wide variety of these local materials that can be used in rural road construction.
These materials are broadly categorized as (i) Moorum/Gravel, (ii) Kankar, (iii) Dhanla (iv)
Laterite and (v) Soft stone/sand stones. Usually these materials can be adopted for
construction of sub- base/base courses, and shoulders. However, these materials may need
suitable treatment for using in different layers of road works.
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 thorough appropriate training and capacity building of the field
engineers. The reluctance of the field agencies to deviate from the conventional methods in
design as well as use of local materials and to try out innovative technologies also call for
attitudinal changes through HRD interventions.
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6.1.3 Non-Conventional Materials

The non-conventional road construction materials are the industrial waste and by-products
such as fly ash from thermal power plants, iron and steel slag, marble dust from quarry,
Phosphogypsum – a by-product of phosphoric acid based fertilizer plants, processed
municipal wastes, jute and plastic wastes. Many organizations carried out research work to
develop specification for these materials. These materials can be used as replacement for the
conventional materials wherever they are available in abundance, this will not only reduce the
cost but also preserve the precious environment around the industries.
6.2 Construction Methods and Technology
Road construction techniques have been constantly upgraded and use of new and alternative
materials as well as modern equipments is advocated for all types of roads. It is logical to see
that the purpose of road construction is to provide a firm, durable and even surface of
pavement, which could stand the stresses imparted due to traffic and climatic conditions. The
construction techniques for rural roads could be broadly classified as: (i) conventional, (ii)
mechanized and (iii) intermediate.
Since rural roads are to be considered as engineering assets, they are required to be properly
designed and constructed with high quality. This can be achieved only if proper use of high
end equipment for bulk construction of road works.
6.2.1 Traditional Methods and Technology
The current practice of construction and maintenance of rural roads continue to be traditional.
Though there is an increasing awareness regarding the need of maximizing use of locally
available materials, adoption of soil stabilization techniques and relevance of sealed gravel
roads for low volume traffic conditions, cost effectiveness practices have not yet found favor
in most of the rural road construction. Deployment of equipment/plant by and enlarge is the
same as is being used for higher category of roads. State may have a mechanism of interacting
with financial institutions, contractors and equipment manufacturers to facilitate the
availability of required machinery for construction and maintenance of rural roads.
6.2.2 Labor-based Technology
As the rural population grows in the coming years, off-farm employment opportunities need
to be created to contain migration of rural population to towns and cities. Road construction
and maintenance using labor-based technology promises to be a good avenue for creating
employment potential while building productive assets.

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Many of the operations involved in rural road construction on such as excavation,

embankment construction, soil-stabilization, surface dressing, maintenance operations like
trimming of berms and cutting grass and weeds, are easily amenable to be undertaken by
manual means with support of light equipment. Provision of better tools to enhance the
productivity of labor and training of the work-force will help in the process. International
experience from China and several African countries suggests that most of the operations
involved in the construction and maintenance of Rural Roads can be efficiently performed by
labor, aided by simple implements to increase their productivity.
6.2.3 Intermediate Construction Technology and Equipment
The construction of rural roads in our country is largely with conventional techniques and is
labor intensive. However, these techniques are slow and often result in sub-standard quality of
finished product. On the other hand, machine based technologies are capital intensive and
hence cannot be pressed for low volume rural road construction. Keeping in view the
importance of employment opportunities and at the same time ensuring a minimum standard
quality necessitates adoption of intermediate technology. A study on use of tractor-powered
technology using locally available agricultural machinery, tractors-tiller was developed. The
important operations such as loosening the soil for excavation, site clearance, loading and
unloading, pulverization, mixing of additives, watering, spreading of soil, additives, leveling
of soil at desired camber and compaction can be done with such a machinery. Normally, these
equipments remain idle in the agricultural fields for a considerable time in rural areas during
sowing-harvesting cycles and therefore facilitate their use with no further investment and
simultaneously getting better productivity of existing machinery.
The equipment manufacturing industries needs to focus on intermediate and low-end
technology machines which can be used cost effectively by the local contractors in
construction and maintenance of rural roads. Simple equipments such as Pedestrian road
rollers, chip sealing machines, simple equipment for spraying emulsion, cold mix plants of
small capacity, pot hole kit are some of the promising items of the equipment. There is a
scope for developing a healthy equipment leasing industry in the private sector to reduce
financial burden on contractors in the use of machinery.
6.3 Design Modifications
Indian Roads Congress has revised its design guidelines of flexible and rigid pavements for
rural roads. However, performance based design to be developed during 11th Plan, is likely to
further modify the design to provide improved performance. Such design shall be suiting to
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the need of terrain, climate, material availability, drainage condition, etc. and even at lower
cost. This is to be an important target in 11th Plan, and also to use the non-conventional
materials as primary material for rural roads with modified design.
6.4 Effect of Cost due to material haulage
In any road construction, substantial portion of the cost of construction is the materials cost.
In many places in the country (like parts of UP and north Bihar, Mizoram, Tripura, etc) the
materials like hard stone has to be hauled from a lead distance more than 100 to 200 km and
sometimes upto 500 km. Use of locally available materials (with design modifications) and
adopting appropriate construction technology may reduce the cost of construction drastically
bringing down the cost of haulage from far away distances. However, this requires
considerable efforts right at the development of specifications for the marginal materials in
the road construction, inclusion of the same in the standard specifications and insist that these
be followed meticulously while preparing the project proposals. Appropriate R&D initiatives
at the State will facilitate and accelerate the use of marginal materials for cutting down the
cost of construction due to longer haulage of standard materials.
6.5 Employment Potentials in Rural Road Sector
Road construction activities generate direct employment opportunities for the skilled,
unskilled laborers and also provide an opportunity for local entrepreneurship to supply the
procurement of rural road project activities. The labor employment opportunity is mainly
depends upon the construction technology. The technology is also decides proportion of labor,
material and equipment usage in road works. Depending upon the sites and availability of
laborers the laborbased methods are well suited for site clearance, earthwork, short hauling,
and aggregate preparation. Even bituminous work also generates labor employment. Table 6.1
provides an estimation of portion of labor, material and equipment which gives an idea of
direct employment generation in road construction.
Rural roads should be constructed by adopting the Intermediate Technology. An expenditure
of Rs. 1 crore in rural roads is likely to create 40,000 man-days of employment (taking an
average wage rate of Rs. 75 per day). Taking into account the assessment of investments
required in construction and maintenance of rural roads during the plan periods, the
employment in terms of man-days likely to be generated is in tune of 440 million man days.
There are many spin-offs that can be expected from the rural road programmes that can lead
to the creation of additional jobs.

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6.6 Recommendations
Low cost marginal and industrial waste may be promoted for rural road construction;
necessary design and specifications be developed.
The standard construction technology should be used for ensuring quality of construction;
however, wherever possible labor based construction methods also may be adopted. But, it
must be emphasized that employment generation is not the focus of rural roads programs.
Many lower cost technologies like soil stabilization is not used often due to lack of
appropriate mechanical devices; such shortcomings must be removed by appropriate
developments for machineries.
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Chapter 5
Maintenance Management for Rural Roads

7.1 Maintenance Needs and Criteria

Road maintenance is a routine work performed for upkeep of pavement, shoulder and other
facilities provided for road users. The maintenance is essential to get optimum service from
the pavement structure during its designed life. Time to time rational maintenance norms are
evolved for rural roads these norms should be followed by the rural road executing agencies
for better management of rural roads. The current replacement cost of existing rural roads
network according to the Rural Road development Plan Vision 2025 (draft), is estimated to be
Rs.2,00,000 crore. Resulting loss in value of road assets due to non maintenance would be as
high as Rs.10,000 crore per year equivalent to 50,000 km of road being eroded each year.
Therefore the assets created have to be maintained still its design life. Routine Maintenance
Priority will be based on the following criteria. (i) The roads in each District will be ranked
according to the Pavement Condition Index (PCI). Subject to the overall availability of funds,
roads of progressively lower PCI will be uniformly taken up in all Districts for inclusion in
the list. (ii) In case it is necessary, a further sub-prioritization will be done on the basis of
Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT), which will need to be applied only in case of all roads
of a particular class, cannot be taken up for maintenance due to scarcity of resources. (iii)
Subject to earmarking of maintenance funds on project basis e.g., World Bank aided projects,
PMGSY maintenance contracts; etc., the divisible pool of maintenance fund will be
distributed among the Districts in ratio of the total length of roads of the priority classes being
taken up for maintenance. Priority should be given to preventive maintenance techniques,
such as crack sealing, surface dressing, dressing and maintenance of shoulders, drainage
works to extend the life of the pavement significantly. As per PMGSY Guidelines, the State
Government is required to undertake the maintenance of the entire Core Network in addition
to the road works constructed / upgraded under the Program. The State Governments will
need to develop sustainable sources of funding for undertaking the maintenance functions.
Providing dedicated fund is pre-requisite for sustainable maintenance. Normal sources of
funding for maintenance is comes from regular budgetary sources and creation of fund with
special purpose levy such as mandi, cess, fuel etc. and maintenance awards by finance
commission.
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7.2 Asset Management Strategy

The components of road asset include pavement, bridges and other cross drainage structures,
tress and other amenities within road land. The management of road asset comprises of
maintenance of all these components to the required level of serviceability, and traffic
management. Thus, road asset management is systematic process for maintaining, upgrading
and operating physical assets cost effectively. In other words, it is combination of engineering
principles with sound business practices and economic theory. It should provide short term
and long range planning for the asset. In the 11th Plan the asset management principles may
be adopted by creating asset information system, and a pilot scale development should be
attempted for selected districts through the rural roads program under PMGSY/Bharat
Nirman.
7.3 Maintenance Interventions and Technology
The core problem in maintenance is in attitudes which need a change. There is no clear
ownership of rural roads for almost all the rural roads, as they have been constructed on and
off under different schemes.
As per PMGSY guidelines, the rural roads construction under the programme will be
maintained by the same contractor of a period of five years. Clear guidelines are developed
and presented in the rural road manual (IRC:SP:20:2002). The specifications of items of
routine maintenance shall be as per the Specification of Rural Roads and the analysis of rates
shall be based on the Standard data book.
7.4 Maintenance Management System
The existing database for roads is generally weak. For rural roads, the position is worse. There
is an urgent need to establish a Road Management Unit at the Head Quarters of the State
PWD / Rural Engineering Organizations (in fact preferably the SRRDA). This unit should
have the responsibility of a creation of a Maintenance Management System.
With the expansion of the road network to provide connectivity to habitations associated with
increasing traffic due to economic growth that leads to fasten deterioration and frequent
interventions, the States face difficulty in undertaking routine maintenance. A few States have
already started performance based system of contract maintenance in respect of rural roads.
The Standard Bidding Document (SBD) developed for PMGSY and prescribed to all the
States clearly brings out one aspect of the policy on Contract Maintenance. In the World Bank
funded Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring project, maintenance works are also being
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executed, on pilot basis, through annual maintenance contracts in geographically compact

packages. The experiences thus far are encouraging and need to be standardized for wider
application.
7.6 Community Participation in Maintenance
The basic objective of the community participation in maintenance of rural road is to improve
the quality and serviceability of the road. In this process it is expected that community may
voluntarily participate by way of donating labor, informing the damages, or repairing of small
pot holes, cracks etc. However, not much headway is made in this direction in India.
Therefore, it calls for a dialogue with various stake holders such as NGOs operating in rural
areas, cooperative societies, Panchayat Institutions, etc. Since the PRIs provide the organized
form of community participation their involvement and details are discussed Chapter 11 and
in Section 11.5. A few international experiences are discussed in the subsequent paragraphs to
through light on these types of systems.
The Government of Finland has promoted rural road maintenance using road cooperatives. A
road cooperative is a rural road maintenance organization whereby the people living along it
maintain the road. 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.
In Peru, the Rural Roads Project (RRP) has set up a cost-effective routine maintenance system
based on contracting out labor-intensive 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 13 people
and the average length of the roads covered under a contract is about 34.6 kms.. Typically,
micro- enterprises are made up of 11 to 20 people living close to the road. Priority is given to
unemployed people who have previous experience in construction works.
Simple routine maintenance can be assigned to various community groups such as NGO,
cooperatives, etc. on cost sharing basis with necessary orientation, training and motivation.

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7.7 Recommendations
No asset lasts long without due maintenance and rural roads are no exemption. Routine and
periodic maintenance should be planned and executed with due budgeting for the funds during
11th Plan. Projectization of maintenance option can be examined with appropriate cost
sharing basis by the State and Central Governments for PMGSY/Bharat Nirman roads.
Uniform level of service criteria for maintenance be developed and adopted across the
country. Suitable computerized maintenance management system (MMS) utilizing simple
measurements (inventory and PCI data) be adopted for rural roads.
Since the roads are to be owned by the PRIs, a community based maintenance program may
be adopted with hierarchical arrangement with District PIUs for higher level maintenance
while routine maintenance being the responsibility of PRIs.
Scientifically based ‘PMMS’ (pavement maintenance management system) suitable for
sustainability of rural roads should be evolved based on the principles of road asset
management.
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Chapter 6
Environmental and Social Safeguard Issues
10.1 Environmental Issues
Environmental considerations forms an integral part of road planning and project appraisal
process. It captures the likely negative effects of a new project on the quality of life.
Construction of new roads or improvement of existing roads tends to have adverse impact on
physical environment such as land, soils, water, air, noise and on flora and fauna. Due to
increase in traffic such projects also have effect on community cohesiveness of indigenous
population. The rural road may have less impact on the environment due to its scale of
implementation. The social impacts may also arise due to land acquisition for improvement of
the existing tracts. These problems need to be addressed, studies and suitably amendable in
the project appraisal stage. In order to study and reduce the adverse impacts on environment,
several methodologies and techniques, are proposed in various guidelines (ADB, 1988; IRC,
1988; MOEF, 1993; OECD, 1994; DMRB, 1996; and World Bank, 1991) for road projects,
which can be useful while planning and development of road network system.
10.2 Social Impacts
Social impact assessment of road projects is a systematic investigation of the social processes
and factors that affect the society. The major purpose is to minimize the negative impact of
the projects and maximize the benefits. It is being established through collection of base line
socioeconomic data and stakeholder analysis. To avoid the negative impacts, normally project
affected persons (PAP) or the families are identified and assessed the impacts in terms of loss
of land, property and livelihood. In this process appropriate action plan is prepared to
rehabilitate and resettle the affected persons or families.
Currently under PMGSY program the environmental and social issues are given importance
through a ‘Transect Walk’. While preparing the DPR, PIU will hold consultation with the
local community through the mechanism of the Gram Panchayat in order to determine the
most suitable alignment, sort out issues of land availability (including forest land), moderate
any adverse social and environmental impact (including barrow fits and channeling drains)
and elicit necessary community participation in the program. It is being organized by
conducting a mandatory ‘Transect Walk’ along the project road by the representatives of PIUs,
Gram Panchayat, revenue officials and forest officials for identifying various issues related to
land requirements for the road and its impact on landowners, environmental impacts

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and other social issues. During the walk, due opportunity shall be given to interested persons
to put forward their point of view. At the end of the walk, alignment shall be finalized after
recording the issues that arose during the walk and the action taken / proposed to resolve the
issues.
10.3 Afforestation
Rural road projects (new construction as well as upgrading) may require removal of trees
falling along the alignment. In addition to felling of trees, borrow areas and mining areas have
to be cleared of all vegetation before the soil can be used for roadwork. In view of the large
program of construction of rural roads envisaged now, a proper afforestation strategy and
mechanism for sustainability of plantation needs to be put in place.
10.3.1 Plantation Strategy
A plan for tree plantation should be formulated at the time of finalizing the detailed project
report for construction/upgrading of rural roads. Some of the objectives of tree plantation
along rural roads are:
To create a green belt and avenues for meeting aesthetic recreational needs and their by
providing shade to pedestrians and reduce ambient temperature o To reduce the surface run-
off discharge and checking erosion in the downhill side especially in hilly regions. o To
create a storehouse of genetic diversity by planting all the indigenous trees, shrubs, herbs,
climbers, creepers, conifers and green foliages including fruits and medicinal plants. o To
reduce the encroachment of road reserve areas. o Drought proofing (including afforestation
and tree plantation) e.g. pasture development, block plantation, horticulture plantation, barren
hill plantation, avenue plantation. o The raising of nurseries, plantation of saplings and
maintenance of trees would generate employment opportunities for the local people and also
provides a sustainable source of fuel wood for the rural communities.
The current guidelines of the NRRDA specify that the State Governments would take up the
plantation of fruit or other suitable trees on both sides of the rural roads from their own funds.
However, certain precautions must be taken in design of avenue or cluster plantation so that
the trees do not have an adverse impact on road maintenance and/or safety of the road user.
Emphasis must be placed on a greater involvement of communities and Gram Panchayats in
planning, maintenance and upkeep of roadside trees.
As suggested by the Rural Roads Vision-2025 document, a comprehensive Manual for
planning and plantation of trees along rural roads may be prepared in consultation the
National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board (NAEB) for serving as guidance to the
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project implementation units at the time of execution of rural road projects and the Gram
Panchayats in proper maintenance and upkeep of the trees.
10.3.2 Tree Plantation and Mechanism for Sustainability
During the 11th Plan period it is proposed to take up 1.65 lacs km length of new construction
and around 1.92 lacs km length for up gradation and renewal of rural roads. A total about
3.57 lacs km of rural roads may be used for road side plantation. Even if, we estimate about
200 trees per km length, with an average of 100 trees in each side, a total of about 700 lacs
trees may be grown. Depending upon the species to be adopted, the quantum of benefits may
be derived in terms of green cover fruits yield (especially neem, jamun, tamarind, etc.),
woods (fire woods, and for wood based product, etc) and others.
A mechanism can be proposed to grow and sustain these trees in a systematic way either as a
part of the road project itself or under NREGP or any other State and Central Government
programs. The saplings of the identified species be planted along these roads and the
ownership may be given to the owner of the roadside land along with necessary funds for
sustenance (as part of routine maintenance adopted in case of PMGSY roads). Alternatively,
the beneficiaries could be those from NREGP or similar programs or the Village Panchayat
through the PIUs to take care of them till it grows up to its self-sustainability level (say 5 year
period). In forest areas the forest department should be involved in afforestation activities
along with PIUs. Incentives of funds to maintain/grow the trees and ownership to take
advantage of the yields as suggested above will ensure sustainability of the plantations.
10.4 Impact of Land Acquisition
Rural roads are often constructed by upgrading the existing earthen tracks. Sometimes these
tracks are narrow and need improvement to meet the minimum engineering standards. This
involves acquisition of adjoining lands. Many a time the owners of these lands are small and
marginal farmers who need to be compensated adequately. The land acquisition process starts
by identifying the required land by the engineering department based on alignment
requirements. The revenue department, which is responsible for acquiring the land for public
purposes, identifies the owners of the land and evaluates their land according to the records
and current usage of the land and fixes the value of the land. Many a time the valuations are
less then market values and are not adequately compensated to the owners. This situation
leads to litigation in acquisition of the land. It directly affects the total cost of construction and
creates constraints during construction activities. In case of land accusation occurs,
Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Action Plan may be prepared and implemented
according to the R&R guidelines.
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10.5 Environmental Code of Practice

The MORD has recently finalized “Environmental Codes of Practice” for adoption on the
rural road works financed by World Bank assistance taken up, under PMGSY, in the four
states. Similar action has also been taken up under schemes financed by Asian Development
Bank. There is need to evolve an all India Code of Practice accounting for state level
variations based on local conditions.
10.6 Recommendations
In all developments of rural roads the environmental issues must be safeguarded. Further,
speedy construction to be ensured by participation of authority responsible for environmental
clearances.
Afforestation along the rural roads by plantations of fruit trees etc be systematically adopted
as part of the design (i.e. DPR) itself. Also for sustainability, the ownership of such
plantations be transferred to the roadside land owner or the Village Panchayat.
Impact of land acquisition, especially for the marginal farmers of specific states, be duly
considered at the time of project development. The State Government may be required to
compensate the affected person/family for the same in lieu of community objectives of the
road.
Social impacts – both positive and negative be duly accounted in project preparation. Thus,
like EMP, a SMP also be prepared with due compensation.
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Chapter 7
Issues related to Capacity Development
11. 1 Institutional Development
In India, rural roads are planned and executed by several state government agencies, such as
Public Works Department (PWD), Rural Engineering Organization (REO), District Rural
Development Agency (DRDA), Irrigation Department, and Forest Department. These
organizations often lack co- ordination among themselves in planning and implementation of
rural road programs. Most organizations lack capacity (manpower, machinery, etc.) to carry
out all weather road construction activities. There are no sustained efforts for capacity
building of the organizations involved in development of rural roads in the area of planning,
programming, budgeting and financial management. Under PMGSY, Program
Implementation Unit (PIU) is established in each district to plan and execute the rural road
projects. The PIU are formed by drawing manpower mostly from the existing Public Works
Department, Rural Engineering Organization or Panchayati Raj Engineering Department.
They are fully trained and empowered to handle the projects.

11.2. Panchayati Raj Institutions

Due to introduction of Panchayati Raj system, the State Governments have brought the rural
road sector under the umbrella of Rural Development Departments. This may help in
implementing the projects with effective local participation in planning, implementation and
maintenance of rural roads. In some states this process is however yet to take place. These
departments are lacking in appropriate technical manpower to carry out the tasks of planning
and building all-weather rural roads for large number of projects. Local community
involvement at each stage of planning process is needed for selection of optimal and desired
links for connectivity.
For effective delivery of rural infrastructure by the PRI, they need to be provided with
adequate technical support. A separate Rural Roads Wing should be set up in each state. This
Wing may be brought under the Panchayati Raj Department of the state. The Executive
Engineers in the field should be working directly under the District Panchayats, and they
should be responsible to the Panchayats for all administrative matters. However, for all
technical matters, the field Executive Engineers should report to the Superintending
Engineers/Chief Engineer of the Rural Roads Wing. Like in PMGSY, there should be one

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Project Implementation Unit (PIU) in each district, capable of handling capital works to the
tune of Rs.100-200 million per year and maintenance works to the tune of Rs.50 million per
year. If the existing system of SRRDA/PIUs can act as a single agency for rural road
development in any State, then their existing linkages with the PRIs at different levels should
be further strengthened.
The rural road works are by nature small and dispersed over a wide geographic area in blocks.
Such works are difficult to supervise due to the demanding travel and logistics requirements.
This has led to the need of decentralization of responsibility for provision and maintenance
for rural roads to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). For discharge of functions, expected of
these PRIs, some states have set up full-fledged Rural Engineering Service/Department to
undertake all engineering works entrusted to the Panchayats. Some others entrust the works
for execution to the Public Works Departments since they have a battery of experienced
technical personnel and well laid down procedures for engagement of contractors and their in-
house capability in monitoring of quality during execution.
11.3 Construction Industry
In several states, the contractors engaged in the construction of rural roads are by and large
medium size highway contractors having heavy duty equipment/plants like Hot Mix Plants,
Vibratory Rollers, Excavators, etc. Due to several road development programmes, which lead
a heavy demand for construction industries in highway sector created shortage of contractors
for rural roadwork. The small-sized and scattered rural road works are in some cases being
subcontracted by these contractors to petty inexperienced contractors. Currently, the
technology under the PMGSY contracts is seen to be equipment intensive. In order to
encourage the healthy growth of small local contractors for rural works and to increase their
capacity, a number of steps need to be taken. Some suggestions in this regard are:
o Contractors specializing in different activities of road works, e.g, earthwork, supply of
materials, bituminous works, culverts and bridges, shall be registered under different
categories based on size and nature of work.
11.4 Training and Development
In the present set-up, the aspect of imparting adequate training to the staff engaged in rural
road development works, right from senior-level rural road engineers, down to the unskilled
workers at the ground level, leaves a lot to be desired. Concerted efforts are needed to identify
the capacity building and training needs at various levels and to chalk out a time-bound
program for this purpose. Continuous skill enhancement on the part of government engineers
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is necessary to keep abreast of the latest trends and developments in road technology. This
must be supplemented with knowledge and skill on project management, financial and legal
matters. Sufficient funds should be budgeted to the departments for conducting the training
and creating infrastructure for training facilities. Training program is required for
departmental engineers, contractors, project engineers and supervisors.
The national level training institutions such as National Institute for Training Highway
Engineers (NITHE), Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), National Institute for
Construction Management and Research (NICMAR), National Academy for Construction
(NAC) and CIDC as well as State Road Research Institutes along with the selected academic
institutes such as IITs and NITs and prominent engineering collages have to be further
involved in strengthening of training needs, development of curricula and imparting training
to the rural road engineers, consultants, contractors and other associated staff.
11.4.1 Training of Skilled and Semi-skilled Workers
Training is also required for skilled, semi-skilled workers, operators of equipment, and
laboratory assistants. The Industrial training Institutions (ITI) have to be encouraged to
reorient their course syllabus to meet the present day requirement of road construction
aspects. New trade in operation and management of road construction may be introduced in it
is. This will not only enrich the profession but also result in good quality of road works.
11.4.2 Training of Ground Level Workers
The important aspect of training ground-level workers in construction and maintenance of
roads and cross drainage works is often ignored. However, the quality of road works and
cross-drainage works will depend, to a large extent, on the manner in which workers in the
field have accomplished the various tasks. In view of their very limited educational
background, the ground level workers can best be trained by showing specially prepared
video training films on various construction techniques and maintenance tasks. Such an
approach has been successfully adopted in several countries in Asia and Africa. The video
training films focus on such aspects of construction and maintenance that need special
emphasis. Also, the various ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ can be effectively brought out in these films.
Such training films need to be dubbed in the local language of the region, also bringing out
extra care to be taken on special problems associated with the region.
11.4.3 Training Modules
The training modules for different category of manpower have to be prepared considering the
various aspects of rural roads such as, network planning and database management,
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preparation of DPRs, contract management, construction technologies and quality assurance,

and asset management for sustenance. The modules should focus on short training and
workshops for planners and policy makers (government officials), short duration training for
the engineering staff with the PIUs, and contractors. Region specific training programs can be
organized through well established R&D and educational institutions like CRRI, NITHE, IITs,
IIMs, NITs and University Engineering Departments.
11.5 Decentralized Maintenance
The three-tier Panchayati Raj System (PRIs), offer 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 4–5 able-bodied villagers to be selected from the village
itself and imparted training on simple maintenance [Link] MG would be made
responsible for maintaining 1–2 kms 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 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.

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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.
11.6 Sustainability of Rural Roads
Sustainable rural road development denotes economic use of the resource base which
maintains its capacity and renewable productivity on a perpetual basis. It is a way of ensuring
continued productivity of the asset, while maintaining those characters of environment
necessary to human welfare in long run. Therefore, the rural roads asset created using the
valuable environment resources such as precious soil, stone and other products, it has to be
maintained to deliver the desired level of service. The institutional set up and the maintenance
management aspects are to be synchronized with the environment aspects to sustain the assets
created in various programs.
11.7 Recommendations
PMGSY has achieved a laudable level of institutional developments during the last six years.
State and district level institutions developed are to be made more professional by way of
qualified manpower and training. HRD should be a primary requirement for higher targets in
11th Plan. The ownership of the rural roads will rest with the PRIs eventually, and therefore,
capacity is to be built at the grass root level by qualified manpower and other training.
Construction industry is having only a limited capacity at this time, and the PMGSY targets
are finding difficult to be achieved. The 11th Plan targets will require a significant boost to the
capacity of road construction industry. The sustainability of the huge asset being built under
rural connectivity programs will be dependent on the capacity of the PRIs to look after these
assets which they will own. With ownership, the responsibility of their maintenance also can
be given to PRI. For this, of course, a systematic training will have to be organized for the
teams to be entrusted with the responsibility

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Fig1: Site Location( Rashyabari village road)

Fig2: Site Location

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Fig3: Road after construction

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CONCLUSION

1. The training is an important cource because it closes the gap between scientific study
and practical study.
2. Learning you how to deal with other.
3. Finding that team work is the most important element in every successful project.
4. Learned you that the civil engineer is capable of a lot of work such as supervision,
implementation , the calculation of quantities and design engineering apprentice
engineer and in the future can work as consultant and contractor.
5. Learning you how to control and manage the site and behaves when there is problem
by take professional decision.
6. Plans must be clear and easy to read for those who used.
7. Successful engineer will find the economic design and the project is implemented less
time.
8. Site engineer responsibility to make sure that everything is right on schedule and every
member is during on the right way.

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. References

1. Ministry of Rural Development, Empowerment of Rural India through connectivity, May,

2000.
2. Ministry of Rural Development (2001), Manual for Preparation of District Rural Roads
Plan for PMGSY, Government of India.
3. Ministry of Road Development (2004), Specifications for Rural Roads, New Delhi: Indian
Roads Congress.
4. Ministry of Rural Development (2004), Guidelines for Pradhan Manatri Gram Sadak
Yojana (PMGSY), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.
5. Ministry of Rural Development (2005), PMGSY - Operational Manual. Government of
India.
6. Ministry of Rural Development (2004)., Impact Assessment of Pradhan Mantri Gram
Sadak Yojana – PMGSY.
7 Ministry of Rural Development (2006), Rural Roads Development Plan: Vision -2025
(Draft), Government of India.
8. National Transport Policy Committee (1980), Planning Commission, Government of India.

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