Centre to now monitor construction of rural roads via satellites

In a bid to check corruption in construction of rural roads, the Centre will do geo-satellite monitoring of the entire process of construction of rural roads in the country.

Recently, a pilot project in this regard was carried out by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The four-month pilot project was conducted in five States- Odisha, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Assam. It found that nearly a third (31 percent) of the village roads in 10 districts across India were shorter than the sanctioned length.

The Rural Development Ministry will sign an MoU with the National Remote Sensing Agency for geo-satellite monitoring of the construction of rural roads and also the roads which have been constructed, a source said.

The move comes after the pilot study revealed that there have been few cases where there is a mismatch between the sanctioned road lengths and the actual length constructed, the source said. The monitoring will be done for analysing the length and optimal alignment of roads along with cross-drainage structures over them, such as bridges.

Overall, the entire exercise will make the scheme more efficient and will help check misuse of funds, the source added. More than 4.81 lakh km of roads connecting 1.192 lakh habitations across the country were constructed under the PMGSY till June 30.

PMGSY envisages connecting all unconnected habitations with a population of 500 or more, as per 2001 census, in plain areas, and 250 or more in special category status States - Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand.

Also read : Meet the American student who is building toilets and roads in rural India

Jammu & Kashmir is also covered in the second category. Besides this, the habitations having population of 100 and above, identified by Home Ministry as crucial, are also covered under the scheme. The government has also launched the second phase of PMGSY which envisages consolidation of the existing rural road network to improve its overall efficiency.