India's Villages

                           A Lifeline For Villages in India

Need for
rural roads

In the year 2000, around 40 per cent of the 825,000

villages in India lacked all-weather access roads.

This constrained economic activities and access

to essential services. Nearly 74 per cent of India’s

rural population, constituting the majority of India’s

poor, were not fully integrated into the national

economy.

The rural roads sector, which is a State subject, also

lacked adequate planning and management due to

poor coordination between multiple funding streams

and agencies. Investing in rural roads was given low

priority and viewed in isolation from the need for

State and National Highways.

 

                                           Government spearheads rural roads

Recognising the critical issue of the rural road
sector, the Government of India (GOI) planned
to give a boost to rural connectivity. In the
year 2000, it launched a nationwide program, the
Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, (PMGSY- the Prime
Minister’s Rural Roads Program) under the Ministry of
Rural Development (MoRD). The program envisages
providing new connectivity to about 180,000
habitations through the construction of about 372,000
kms of roads, and upgrading about 370,000 kms of
the existing core rural network to provide full farm-tomarket
connectivity. The total outlay for the program is
33 billion USD. PMGSY is being implemented as a 100
per cent centrally-funded program aimed at providing
all-weather connectivity to all habitations of above
500 population (250 in case of hills, desert and tribal
areas).
Government spearheads rural roads
Through the PMGSY, the GOI is endeavouring a
radical departure from the past. It is enforcing more
rational and transparent decision making, planning,
and design tools; it is also helping to streamline the
flow of funds through a sector wide approach for
sustainable rural infrastructure development. The
Central Government has formulated detailed Policy
and Operational Guidelines and set up the National
Rural Road Development Agency (NRRDA) to provide
management and technical support to the States.
The program has greatly enhanced the capacity of
States to plan and manage rural roads by creation
of State Rural Roads Development Agencies in each
State. These agencies monitor PMGSY works, which
are implemented by Public Works Departments, Rural
Development Department and similar agencies.

World Bank partners PMGSY                                                                                                         

The World Bank , a partner with the Government

of India to build rural infrastructure, alleviate

poverty and improve rural livelihood, is

supporting the PMGSY program. The Bank’s Rural

Road Project1 (RRP) is being implemented in select

districts of Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh (HP), Rajasthan

and Uttar Pradesh (UP).

Since the inception of the PMGSY, the World Bank

has provided technical support to the Ministry of

World Bank partners PMGSY

Rural Development in formulating the operational

guidelines of the program. It includes setting up the

Core Road Network approach to prioritize the selection

of habitations. A highlight of the association has been

the mandatory provision for peoples’ participation,

adoption of Environmental and Social Management

Framework (ESMF), developing maintenance

management capacity of the States and exposure to

global good practices through training.

Uniformity in governance and management

To build a strong foundation, from the inception

of the program, the Government in Rajasthan

announced many path-breaking decisions. Meanwhile,

the Central Government adopted an enabling role,

endorsing its strong commitment to the PMGSY.

The Central Government, provided a regular and

continuous flow of funds, though this was linked

to performance and expenditure. Sufficient funds

were released as and when required to the state

government. At no point of time was any construction

work held up or slowed down because of financial

restrictions thus facilitating construction to roll on

smoothly. This worked as an additional incentive

for engineers and contractors to meet their periodic

deadlines as more funds were in the pipeline for the

next schedule.

The Government of Rajasthan played a major role

in ensuring that the program was implemented in

accordance with the cluster-based criteria. The PMGSY

was regarded as a rare opportunity for correcting the

historical imbalances of development in the poorer

regions of the State.

Uniformity in governance and management

Other key decisions taken by the State governments

that led to speeding up the decision-making processes

were:

Delegation of financial powers to the field staff

to scrutinize and select bids and to announce a

closure on the awards within 30 days;

Providing stability of tenure in the department

for senior managers, chief engineers, and senior

administrative officers so that there was continuity

in the program;

Institutionalizing a model document that listed

the guiding principle to be followed for making

tenders and selection procedures. In addition to

security of tenure, the roles and responsibilities

of the project staff were clearly defined leading to

greater efficiency and quality output.

The cornerstone of the program was the setting up of

institutional and implementation structures. In each

State the main implementing agency was the State Rural

Road Development Agency (SRRDA). In Rajasthan and HP

the SRRDA worked through their respective government

department- the Public Works Department (PWD) as it

was the oldest department with a strong field presence

and a vast network that covered the entire State.