PMGSY: catalyst for changing the rural landcape

I'm just back from Assam after a one week long vacation there. Usually we go to Assam once every year and we take two weeks off. But this time we were there for a shorter time. When we go there, we visit our relatives from both my side and my wife's side. Most of our relatives are in Nagaon district. Nagaon is a central district in the southern bank of the Brahmaputra.

I drove a lot during the vacation. I observed three things about the roads in Nagaon district. I hope it's the same in almost every part of Assam. The national highway (NH-37) is in a bad shape because of the four-lane NHAI project. This project has been going on for quite a long time. I'm not sure how many years it'll take for the completion of the four-lane highway. Secondly, state roads (maintained by state PWD department) are in pathetic conditions. The road connecting my native town Morigaon to the nearby town Nagaon is one of the worst road I've ever seen. The condition of that road has been deteriorating every year. Either the local politicians are not interested or the state government has no money for development of the roads.

Contrary to the gloomy condition of the national highways and state roads, the village roads present a completely different picture. Thanks to the central government scheme called Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (means Prime Minister's Village Road Plan),  all the village roads have been developed in recent years in Nagaon and Morigaon districts and hopefully in rest of Assam also.  The remotest villages have all been connected through good roads under this scheme. There is not much traffic on these roads. These roads have started a new market for vehicles like Tata Winger, Tata Magic etc. These vehicles carry around 10 or 15 people and ply on these roads. Now it's a lot easier for people to travel through these villages.

I used these roads built under PMGSY scheme to drive to many of the villages where our relatives live. Taking these roads reduces the distance otherwise I had to take using highways.

I was curious to know who will maintain these roads. Construction of these roads will be meaningless if these are not maintained properly. I heard that there is a 5 year maintenance period for these roads. The contractor whoever builds these village roads need to keep aside 25% of the fund for maintenance of the road for the next 5 years. I hope this money is used in actually maintaining the roads and don't end up in the pockets of the officials.

Roads are very important for economic development. Most of India still lives in villages. Till a few years back, road connectivity in these villages were a big problem. I hope the PMGSY roads will bring in new prosperity and socio-economic development to our villages.