Question : ROAD CONSTRUCTED UNDER PMGSY

(a) whether the roads built under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) have broken down in many parts of the country even though the construction agencies are responsible for the maintenance and repair of the roads for five years;

(b) if so, the details thereof, State-wise;

(c) whether condition of most of the roads built in district Madhubani in Bihar under the scheme have become bad and the construction agency is untraceable now;

(d) whether the roads under the scheme are being constructed at a level lower than the prescribed quality norms;

(e) if so, the details thereof; and

(f) the corrective steps taken by the Government in this regard?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT(SHRI PRADEEP JAIN `ADITYA`)

(a) to (c) Rural roads constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) are covered by 5-year maintenance contracts, to be entered into alongwith the construction contract, with the same contractor,in accordance with the Standard Bidding Document.Maintenance funds to service the contract are to be budgeted by the State Governments and placed at the disposal of State Rural Roads Development Agencies (SRRDAs) in a separate Maintenance Account.The State Government and the central agencies engaged for the implementation of PMGSY in Bihar are to take appropriate action against the concerned officers and the contractors,if the defects observed by Quality Monitors are of non-rectifiable nature.

(d) to (f) All necessary actions are being taken by the Ministry of Rural Development to ensure construction of roads under PMGSY as per the prescribed quality norms. For ensuring high level of quality in works, PMGSY programme guidelines have the provision for three tier Quality Control Mechanism. The first two tiers of the Quality Control Structure are overseen by the State Quality Coordinators, appointed by the State Governments.The first tier of quality control mechanism is in- house quality control at the level of executing agencies.The second tier provides for quality monitoring through independent State level Quality Monitors.The third tier consists of quality monitoring of works through random inspection by independent National Quality Monitors (NQMs). Observations of National Quality Monitors (NQMs) are sent to the Programme Implementation Units (PIUs) for taking appropriate action.The action taken reports (ATRs) are prepared by the PIUs and sent to the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA) through State Quality Coordinator. If defects in the work are rectified and the action of rectification is verified by independent quality monitors in the subsequent inspections,the `Unsatisfactory` grading of the work is improved to `Satisfactory` grading. The submission of ATRs is regularly monitored and States are apprised of the status of ATRs during various meetings etc.