The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was launched on the Christmas Day 17 years ago by the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As he celebrates his birthday today, this flagship road building programme is probably the sole showpiece achievement of the NDA government led by Narendra Modi. Vajpayee may or may not have the charisma and appeal of Modi. But in his vision lies a winning formula for Modi to regain the confidence of rural populace as quality roads are visible, long-term infrastructure that instantly raises the popularity of the government in power.
Political parties aspiring to get power have a lesson to draw from this mammoth road building exercise -- the wayward expenditure on PMGSY calls for robust allocation as roads under the flagship scheme are now the lifeline in
rural areas.
As expenditure on rural roads has been expanded over the last 17 years, there were also instance when budgetary allocation in fact was halved (see table). But if the recent verdict from Gujarat assembly poll is any hint, rural voters are thinking differently from the urban population. A similar trend was also witnessed in the Uttar Pradesh civic poll. Hence, this will force current and successive governments not to compromise on the quality of roads in rural areas where roads suitable in all weather conditions is a basic necessity.
The Centre so far has completed more than 5 lakh kilometer roads, while the pace of construction has also gone up as 47,447 km completed in 2016-17FY as against 24,161 km in 2012-13.
According to a survey, about 1.67 lakh unconnected habitations are eligible for coverage under the programme and this involves construction of about 3.71 lakh km of new roads and 3.68 lakh km under upgrade.
The primary objective of PMGSY is providing connectivity by way of roads (with necessary culverts and cross-drainage structures, which is operable throughout the year), to unconnected habitations in the rural areas with a population of 500 people and above in plains. But in the hill states and north-east region as well as tribal and backward districts, any village with a population of 250 people and above are eligible to be connected under the PMGSY. The eligibility of population in a village was lowered in 2011 to cover more areas.
When it was started, PMGSY envisaged connecting every village with more than 1,000 people in three years and every village having more than 500 people by 2007. The programme was simultaneously launched from Gujarat, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Orissa.
An all-weather road is the one which is negotiable in all seasons of the year. This implies that the road-bed is constructed effectively by adequate cross-drainage structures such as culverts, minor bridges and causeways. But this does not necessarily imply that it should be paved or surfaced or bitumen-topped. Interruptions to traffic as per permitted frequency and duration may be allowed, according to PMGSY guidelines.
Nevertheless, there are some grey areas that need to be clearly defined. The spirit and objective of the PMGSY is to provide good, all-weather road connectivity to the eligible unconnected villages. But the guidelines provide that a habitation if earlier had an all-weather connectivity, would not be eligible under PMGSY even if the present condition of the road is bad. PMGSY envisages only single road connectivity to be provided, but the quality of the road under this scheme is such that it is equivalent of a double road constructed by a state government in hinterland.
The main purpose of PMGSY was to provide farm to market access. New connectivity may involve ‘new construction’ where the link to the habitation is missing and if required, ‘upgradation’ where an intermediate link in its present condition cannot function as an all-weather road, the government said.
The PMGSY shall cover only the rural areas. Urban roads are excluded from the purview of the programme. Even in the rural areas, PMGSY covers only the rural roads i.e., roads that were formerly classified as ‘Other District Roads’ (ODR) and ‘Village Roads’ (VR).
The ODR are roads serving rural areas of production and providing them with outlet to market centres, taluka (tehsil) headquarters, block headquarters or other main roads. Village roads (VR) are roads connecting villages with each other and as well as to the nearest road of a higher category.
Major district roads, state highways and National Highways are not covered under the PMGSY, even if they happen to pass through the rural area.
While launching the programme in 2000, Vajpayee had regretted that not enough attention was paid to rural infrastructure in the past. He was critical of the quality of roads at many places. He had the vision that the rural road programme would pave the way for more employment opportunities and all round progress. He had made it clear that resources would not be a constraint and urged for people’s participation in the speedy and time-bound implementation of the programme. The then rural development minister M Venkaiah Naidu had said that the programme was estimated to require an investment of Rs. 60,000 crore. He had said that about 40 per cent of the rural areas needed to be connected by all weather good roads.
During his stint as rural development minister under Vajpayee government, Naidu had ensured two flagship programmes – PMGSY and Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY). While PMGSY not only survived but also successive governments realised its necessity for the economy by pumping money, the SGSY scheme, started in April 1999, had to make way for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
The Act guarantees a minimum 100 days of employment in a year to every job card holder within 15 days of making a request. Since employment became a matter of right, the concept of self-employment (under SGSY) lost the luster.
The success of the PMGSY can be attributed to the 100 per cent funding by the central government when it was launched. The role of state government was minimised while middlemen were removed. Transparency was maintained through online tendering process and strict vigil from the top led to tremendous improvement in quality.
Rural roads were given thrust in the beginning of the Fifth Five Year Plan in 1974 under the Minimum Needs Programme. But, it never took off in a big way until Vajpayee and Naidu re-discovered it and branded it with a new name.
Though the success of the PMGSY was 100 per cent grant from the centre and its direct supervision, the government in 2013 diluted the programme in terms of its funding pattern. In 2013, PMGSY- II kicked off under which sharing of construction cost between the centre and the states stood at 60:40 ratio. The central government’s share is 90 per cent in respect of north-eastern and hill states.
For maintenance, the states continue to be responsible for 100 per cent funding. But routine maintenance for five years after construction is the responsibility of the contractor who is entrusted with the task of PMGSY project.
prabhudatta.m@mydigitalfc.com