Dr. P. K. Sikdar
Director
Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi

1.BACKGROUND

The roads in the rural areas have been planned and programmed under several rural development programmes of the Government of India. But, in each of those cases, the targets set and methodology adopted are very arbitrary and not truthful to the planning principles. Therefore, in spite of huge amount of funds being spent over last few decades through various rural development programmes such as Minimum Needs Programme (MNP) Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) etc, they have not been able to give more than 50% actual connectivity to about 6 Lakhs villages. Therefore, the country should embark now on a massive ask of providing 100% connectivity to the rural population within a decade or so.

Currently, the Government of India committed to provide full connectivity under special programme known as ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Vikas Yojana’ (Prime Minister’s Rural Road Project). Under this scheme all the villages having 1000 and above population will be connected by the year 2003 and villages having 500 and above population will be connected by the year 2007. The scheme will be launched from 2nd October 2000. For this purpose the Government has provided Rs. 5000 crores for the current year to start with.

This action will fulfil all the associated objectives, which the Government is aiming to achieve, e.g.

• social and economic upliftment of rural masses,
• employment generation in rural areas by making them accessible,
• creating attraction for rural areas and thus providing facilities there,
• national integration of major part of the population, and
• arresting of rural-to-urban migration.

While we call it a rural economy, there has been hardly nay major thrust provided to the rural infrastructure so for. The roads are the fundamental infrastructure for any of the other developments to take place in an area. Therefore, extra or preferred investment in rural road may not be considered to be a distorted policy in any sense. Investment in road is also to be considered as partial contribution to all other investments which are probably equally deserving; but road has to be the first choice to make every other investment possible.

In India, the development of rural road is the responsibility of the State Government. The Central Government prepares planning guidelines, policy issues and allocates fund for development of rural roads. The State Government and its agencies are required to execute the rural road works within the allocated resources. In States, several agencies such as Public Works Department, Panchayati Raj Engineering Department, Highway Department, Agricultural Marketing Boards, Forest and Irrigation Department, etc. are involved in development of rural roads. These agencies are entrusted to implement the road works under different schemes and development programmes of the State and Central Government.

Since Several agencies are involved in planning and executions of rural road projects, and absence of systematic planning procedure lead to ad-hoc approach in execution. In order to avoid duplicate, and effective utilization of available funds it is necessary to create and maintain database on GIS Platform, which will be useful to prepare master plan at micro-level for effective implementation of rural road projects.

STATUS OF OF RURAL ROADS

To achieve sustainable growth in agricultural and industrial sector in India, it was realized in early part of this century itself that a suitable road transport policy and planning was necessary. Three Twenty-Year Road Development Plans of this country had provided a major emphasis on rural roads. All these plans successively, gave more importance to distance criteria for accessibility and also emphasized on agriculturally developed areas. While funds were allocated under various Five-Year Plans, most of the time these Five-Year Plans were not fully conformed to the Twenty Year Road Development Plans.

Even though rural roads are always given more importance in the various rural development programs due to its derived objective of creating additional employment opportunities, the minimum required engineering specifications of the roads have been totally over looked. Inspite of this entire lacuna, the achievement in terms of quantum of rural road is impressive as shown in the Table 1 and 2. The Tales show the road length in various States by category of surfacing and also the village connectivity by populations size category. It is clear that all these earlier strategies and actions had failed to improve effective connectivity of the village as well as a balance regional development.

MASTER PLAN FOR RURAL ROAD NETWORK

To avoid any duplication in planning of rural roads the Indian Roads Congress suggested for preparation of a master plan for rural roads at district level. These plan preparations should follow on the guidelines and policies of the Government. To help in preparation of master plan for rural roads, several

		Village Connectivity with Population Size									For the States and U.T.s
		less than 1000			between 1000-1500			more than 1500
SI. No.	States/U.T.s	No. of Villages	No. of Village connected	% of villages connected	No. of Villages	No. of villages connected	% of villages connected	No. of Villages	No. of Village connected	% of villages connected	Total No. Villages	Total No. of Villages connected	% of villages Connectivity
1.	Andhra Pradesh	13888	4579	32.97	3767	2245	59.60	9700	9402	96.93	27355	18226	59.32
2.	Arunachal Pradesh	3176	675	21.25	49	42	85.71	32	31	96.88	3257	748	22.97
3.	Assam	18777	1169	6.23	1907	1907	100.00	1812	1812	100.00	22496	4888	21.73
4.	Bihar	53234	14906	28.00	3375	3375	55.26	8228	5984	72.73	67569	24265	35.91
5.	Goa	172	172	100.00	100	100	100.00	126	101	80.16	398	373	93.72
6.	Gujarat	9814	8268	84.25	3249	3249	100.00	5051	5043	99.84	18114	16560	91.42
7.	Haryana	3275	3239	98.90	1159	1159	99.91	2310	2309	99.96	6745	6707	99.44
8.	Himachal Pradesh	6378	7147	43.72	255	255	96.96	196	196	100.00	16807	7598	45.21
9.	J&K	5037	2913	57.83	506	506	82.82	567	529	93.30	6215	3948	63.52
10.	Karnataka	8632	6484	34.80	2624	2624	75.82	4936	4291	86.93	27029	13399	49.57
11.	Kerala	6	6	100.00	10	10	100.00	1252	1252	100.00	1268	1268	100.00
12.	Madhaya Pradesh	53546	14109	22.20	2966	2966	67.00	2910	2745	94.33	70883	19820	27.96
13.	Maharashtra	25057	6487	25.89	4987	4987	96.97	6185	6175	99.84	36385	17649	48.51
14.	Manipur	1760	716	40.68	103	103	93.64	167	167	100.00	2037	986	48.40
15.	Meghalaya	4793	2392	49.91	84	84	100.00	45	45	100.00	4922	2521	51.22
16.	Mizoram	395	301	76.20	286	286	100.00	56	56	100.00	737	643	87.25
17.	Nagaland	879	798	90.78	132	132	100.00	108	108	100.00	1119	1038	92.76
18.	Orrissa	41132	12628	30.70	3162	3162	89.73	2649	2649	100.00	47305	18439	38.98
19.	Punjab	8842	8804	99.57	1557	1557	100.00	1689	1689	100.00	12088	12050	99.69
20.	Rajasthan	27598	6963	25.23	1990	1990	82.68	3300	3290	99.70	33305	12243	36.76
21.	Sikkim	371	263	70.89	43	43	89.58	21	21	100.00	440	327	74.32
22.	Tamil Nadu	19867	12091	60.86	2306	2306	99.65	3918	3918	100.00	26099	18315	70.18
23.	Tripura	4183	3380	80.80	235	235	100.00	300	300	100.00	4718	3915	82.98
24.	Uttar Pradesh	90271	32281	35.76	7630	7630	66.95	10899	10598	97.25	112566	50510	44.87
25.	West Bengal	27846	11551	41.48	3602	3602	65.49	4928	3103	62.97	38274	18256	47.70
Total (States)		458699	173332	37.79	45033	45033	77.74	71385	65815	92.20	588008	284180	48.33
Union Territory
26.	A&N Island	460	223	48.48	16	16	100.00	15	15	100.00	491	254	51.73
27.	Chandigarh	3	3	100.00	13	13	100.00	16	16	100.00
28.	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	34	30	88.24	13	13	100.00	25	25	100.00	72	68	94.44
29.	Daman & Diu	11	11	100.00	5	5	100.00	10	10	100.00	26	26	100.00
30.	Delhi	54	54	100.00	37	37	100.00	123	123	100.00	214	214	100.00
31.	Lakshadweep
32.	Pondicherry	207	207	100.00	31	31	100.00	53	53	100.00	291	291	100.00
Total States & UTS		459465	173837	37.83	58029	45138	77.79	143248	132108	92.22	660742	351083	53.13

Source : Planning commission Basic Road Statistics of India (1996-97)

			Surfaced Roads			Unsurfaced Roads
SI. No.	States/Union Territory	Total Length (KM)	WBM	BT	C.C		Total	Motorable	Non Motorable	Total
1.	Andhra Pradesh	140686	45259	34282	90		79631	1735	59320	61055
2.	Arunachal Pradesh	12634	1331	2295	0		3626	1850	7158	9008
3.	Assam	53787	181	5124	3		4308	16995	31484	48479
4.	Bihar	60957	2459	19193	11		21663	4779	34515	39294
5.	Goa	7321	353	4343	0		4696	2357	268	2625
6.	Gujarat	50834	12560	33405	2		45967	3182	1685	4867
7.	Haryana	19651	0	18402	0		18402	464	785	1249
8.	Himachal Pradesh	23042	5382	4318	10		9710	5521	7505	13026
9.	J&K	8917	2463	3098	0		5561	1365	1991	3356
10.	Karnataka	105163	37351	32111	29		69491	16234	19438	35672
11.	Kerala	126492	272	32213	4		32489	32092	61911	94003
12.	Madhaya Pradesh	1311560	44237	24079	14		68330	59371	3759	63130
13.	Maharashtra	281597	166346	49339	19		215704	37835	28058	65893
14.	Manipur	8514	741	1017	56		1814	5068	1632	6700
15.	Meghalaya	5798	0	2351	0		2351	3447	0	3447
16.	Mizoram	3855	0	1154	0		1154	2701	0	2701
17.	Nagaland	17174	2220	2400	0		4620	11642	912	12554
18.	Orrissa	228810	45881	22385	0		69266	9878	149666	159544
19.	Punjab	42757	0	42757	0		42757	0	0	0
20.	Rajasthan	106341	7371	48966	725		58962	34005	13374	47379
21.	Sikkim	1502	668	591	0		1259	243	0	243
22.	Tamil Nadu	1811797	62221	58206	1		120428	17841	43628	61469
23.	Tripura	12752	1649	2392	8		4049	4306	4397	5703
24.	Uttar Pradesh	142884	18645	68929	10		87584	27366	27934	55300
25.	West Bengal	42669	454	21239	0		21693	20976	0	20976
Total (States) Union Territory
26.	A&N Island	1059	0	1031	0		1031	0	28	28
27.	Chandigarh	1269	245	522	0		767	351	151	502
28.	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	491	34	457	0		491	0	0	0
29.	Daman & Diu	101	1	68	1		70	0	0	0
30.	Delhi	1224	0	1224	0		1224	0	0	0
31.	Lakshadweep	0	0	0	0		0	0	0
32.	Pondicherry	1657	246	900	3		1149	357	151	508
Total States & UTS		1823295	461470	538791	986		1001247	321961	499750	821711

Source : Basic Road Statistics of India. 1996-97 MOST

network planning models were developed based on the graph theory, gravity model and optimization techniques by several research organizations, educational institutions and consultants. In actual practices, these models have not helped much to the implementing agencies since these models ignored the aspects like availability proper database, funds, local aspirations, land acquisition problems, political decision and the organizational pattern. So these models served mostly as an academic exercise rather than planning tools. The master plans prepared by the local Government agencies are mainly acted as a budgetary information document for concerned agency.

METHODOLOGY

In the past, the serious efforts also could not be sustained. Careful examination of these aspects has revealed that most of the efforts and emphasis have gone to aspects other than the road itself. Secondly, in these efforts the rural roads were never considered to be an engineering structure. These non-engineered structures (the roads built under various rural programmes) without back-up system or facility to sustain them with engineering inputs for repair and maintenance have disappeared in no time. It is, therefore, necessary to build up capacity in the Rural Engineering Organisation along with the planning exercise so that these organisations fully understand these structures. In order to avoid all the problems associated with rural road development, it is advisable to build a strong database and a sound methodology for preparation of master plan. The most important among all the actions in the methodology shall be a clear understanding and transparency among all the organisations involved in the development of the master plan.

THE DATA

Some of the important data required for development of the master plan are:

• Census data for the population, villages/settlements as they grow from one census to other.
• Village directory of census which contain information of all economic activities and infrastructure available in different villages.
• Survey of India top sheets for the road network, alignments and locations.
• Satellite imagery for accurate locations of the settlements and the rural roads and their orientations with respect to other terrain and natural features.
• Panchayat, Rural Engineering Organisation, and PWD of the State will provide the complete inventory and condition data along with the s chainages etc.

a.Physical verification of the road location/alignment, geometry and condition etc.

b.Land use and other developmental features of the District/Taluka/Panchayat Area.

c.Socio-economic data of the village communities of the district.

d.All administrative and political boundaries/. limits to be delineated.

3.3 DATA SOURCES

a.Census of India, Govt. of India

b.National Inormatics Centre (NIC), New Delhi.

c.National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad

d.State Bureau of Economics & Statistics

e.State Remote Sensing Agencies

f.State Public Works Department (PWD)

g.Rural Engineering Organisations, Zilla Parishads and Panchayats

h.Collectorate Office of the District/Tehsil/Taluka

3.4 STEPS INVOLVED IN MASTER PLAN PREPARATION

The detailed tasks involved in the methodology of master plan development in a co-ordinated fashion is discussed and listed here.

• The first task in the technical front shall be a reconnaissance survey of the district to visualize the classifications and categorisations that will be required both in spatial and attribute data which are going to be compiled for the plan development.
• Based on the maps and other data available with Survey of India, NRSA, NIC and Local Organisations, a suitable scale for the spatial data will be arrived at so that all subsequent spatial information will have to be developed at that scale. A tentative proposal shall be that all spatial data be prepared at least at 1:50,000or 1:25,000 scale subject to availability of necessary maps from all sources.
• The inventory and condition survey should be taken up with the help of Local Agencies to complete the spatial database and to build the attribute database. The traffic on the roads and the characteristics of travel by rural population may be assessed for projection to the future.

• The demographic and socio-economic data tables can be developed at the settlement (village) level using the population Census and District Economic Census information.
• The land use, as well as administrative and political limits can also be prepared for the same area for better interpretation. Analyses can be done by using various standard model of accessibility for connectivity. These will be for access to various categories of educational facility, health care and to market centers etc.
• The analysis referred above for accessibility can be assessed in terms of volume of interaction or travel to justify different levels of development in the road connectivity. The road connectivity can be provided with several types of rural roads, which will have to match with the type of traffic that is going to use it.
• The optimal network based on maximum utility in terms of accessibility to each different criterion and the category of all-weather road required will be estimated. This, of course, will be guided by the policy for degree of connectivity that we can provide to the settlements. Thus, a policy guided network will be evolved.
• Standard specifications are available for rural road which can be adopted to maintain or extend the network. Based on condition data, the maintenance strategy also will be evolved along with its cost.
• One of the major problem in rural road is the functioning of cross drainage (CD) structures. The inventory of the CD structures will be used for estimation of the detailed renewal or maintenance programme for these.
• The spatial and attribute data for the existing network of rural road, settlement locations and policy for accessibility levels for a given type of socio-economic activity, will be used to identify the best (optimal) network which will be considered as the master plan for the present time.
• The master plan will be made flexible in a way that as the population changes and the need of the rural community grows in terms of the change in traffic pattern on the roads, the requirement may be assessed using this methodology.
• The methodology shall be able to forecast the population and its distribution in the district to evolve the future network using the chosen policy for a future date.

GIS BASED APPORACH

GIS based approach may be a better tool for preparation of master plan for rural roads. The Master plan development involves generation of the three sets of fundamental information – spatial data, attribute data, and operational data. The Fig – 1 highlights the various data requirements of these aspects.

Fig. 1 GIS DATABASE

SPATIAL DATABASE Digital Maps Administrative Boundaries Road Network NHs, SHs, MDRs, ODRs, VRs and cart-tracks, Railway line etc. Land-use patterns and Natural bodies like rivers, lake, hills, etc. Location of village, quarry sties, Topography etc.

ATTRIBUTE DATA Census details and Land Records at village level Road Inventory and conditions Survey data such as road name, Surface type, width, CD type, Design and specifications, Cost aspects, etc. Socio-economic data: Facilities such as educational health market centers, etc. Administrative step-up etc. Hydraulic details of natural water

OPERATIONAL DATA Traffic Data (AADT) Soil Characteristics (type of soil, CBR etc.) Disaster data like Flood, accidents Environmental data Pollution aspects General Pavement Conditions data

RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY

Steps involved in reconnaissance survey for preparation of spatial and attribute database are as follows:

• A list of villages considered by Population Census (Say 1991 Census) will be first prepared. Villages formed after 1991 will be added to the list. This list is for a Tehsil/Taluka/Mandal/Block or any such lowest level administrative unit
• A map of the District/Tehsil/Taluka/Mandal/Block will be taken with its boundary identified as accurately as possible. For this, help will be obtained from Tehsil/Taluka/Mandal/Block maps prepared by PWD/REO etc. for showing these roads. The Surveys of India toposheets also shall be use for correct boundary etc. This map shall preferable be prepared at 1:50000 or 1:25000 scale, but any other chosen judiciously also will serve the purpose.
• All the roads National Highways (NHs), State Highways (SHs), Major District Roads (MDRs), Other District Roads (ODRs) and Village Roads (VRs) will be marked on the map as these are shown in PWD or REO or Panchyat maps.

The roads marked on these maps are to be correct representation of actual roads that are existing in terms of their actual location and alignment in the ground.

• The different types of road shall be indicated by a different symbol. But rural roads in the map (i.e. ODR and VR) are to be indicated by different colours for different sections, which are "black-top", "Kutcha or Earth road" etc. If there are some other minor rods of some kind which are not covered are also to be drawn using a different symbol.
• All the village from the list (census) are to be located in the map as thick dots and to be numbered as per the list.
• A simple table of information will be prepared to indicate the chainges of the roads at different points, i. e. the length of the links. This will be required to calibrate the network for GIS based Planning and accessibility analysis.

SPATIAL DATA

The spatial database can be prepared on GIS platform in different layers for connivance of analysis at later stage with respect to connectivity and accessibility etc. This will facilitate all mapping requirements of the Rural Engineering Organisation, Zilla Parishad and State PWD for development and maintenance of the network. These maps prepared on GIS platform are the intelligent maps, which will answer quires and guide the network development based on selected criteria. Fig 2 and 3 shows different layers of base map for Nashik district and lgatpuri taluka.

Fig 2. Taluka Map of Igatpuri

Taluka Map

The spatial data will have all the other features of terrain, drainage, etc in addition to the road network. While the full details of rural roads (Other District Road and Village Road) will be incorporated, the spatial details of other types of roads (NH, SH and MDR) will be incorporated only for relative references. Spatial data shall include the location of the population settlements, if possible with their spatial spread also so as to facilitate three-dimensional analysis of the development space.

ATTRIBUTE DATA

The demographic data table as available from Census can be attached in full so as to have all possible demographic analysis on spatial scale. The entire range of socio-economic data, which are available in village directory of the Census, will serve as the attribute data which will be attached to the GIS map data so as to fulfil the planning functions to be carried out. The methodology of accessibility analysis will be developed with GIS capabilities using this attribute data on socio-economic level of the population settlements; and deficiency in the rural road network with respect to access to education and health services etc. will be assessed in pictorial as well as tabular format. The road inventory and condition data of the rural road network will serve the purpose of optimal planning of the network; and also for development of sustainable strategies to maintain the all-weather roads for year round connectivity of the rural population. The network inventory and condition data will be updated by the rural population. The network inventory and condition data will be updated by the agencies from time to time to revise and review the master plan. The methodology will have flexibility of the criteria chosen at any point in time, and the plan generated will be possible to the checked against the set out objectives.

OPEATIONAL DATA

In addition to spatial and attribute data other operational data will be required to carry out the planning in the most desired manner. For example, the traffic that uses the road network and the parameters, which will allow making planning projections, are also required. Further, the existing trip making behaviour of the rural population for education, health and marketing etc. are also important to establish the policy criterion for provision of road connectivity for the rural settlements. These operational data along with spatial and attribute information will allow the formulation of dynamic master plan for the area under study.

CASE STUDY

THE STUDY AREA - RAMASAMUDRAM MANDAL (AP)

Based on the methodology suggested a dynamic master plan can be developed for any given planning unit i.e. administrative area like Mandal or Taluka/Tehsil or District. However, this planning unit should normally be an administrative area for which data and other resources are collected and kept in one place. The feel of such a development is shown in the case study considered here. The Ramasamudram Mandal Praja Parishad (administrative boundary) which is a part of Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Ramasamudram Mandal consists of 15 census villages (village Panchyat) with total of 75 settlements. According to the 1991 census the total population of Ramasamudram Mandal is 19,858. The fifteen Panchayat villages are like central village, which have more socio-economic facilities in comparison to other 60 villages. Thus, it fits truly to the settlement hierarchy where the Mandal HQ is the growth centers and the Chittoor District has 66 Such Mandals. The 15 central villages cater to the needs of the villages at the lower level of hierarchy.

In the present demonstrative case study, map of Ramasamudram Mandal with the boundaries of 15 Panchayat villages (central villages jurisdiction) was drawn at 1:50,000 scale and all the central villages (15 Nos.) and the remaining constituent villages (60 Nos.) were plotted on the map accurately in terms of their locations. The attribute data for the demographic nature are directly available from the population census as well as district statistical handbooks. These are attached to the spatial data (Map Data), which have been created for the settlement locations. (shown in Fig 2). The total network of this Mandal has been drawn as a separate map layer at the scale to facilitate overlapping. The village roads (ODRs and VRs) were drawn relative to the actual location of these roads along with the villages (shown in Fig. 3). However, there can be many other kinds of spatial data as desired and as there are available. Figure 4 shows Map with location of villages, facilities and road network.

CONCLUSIONS

The basic philosophy of planning road network is to be changed. The presently used criteria like density of roads or distance of the target villages of given population size from all-weather road should actually be the outcome of the planning. The proposed methodology of district level master planning is going to make a significant difference in the understanding of the rural economy in the first place. This master plan will provide a vision for rural India in terms of assessing the need and potential of the rural India and it will be abundantly clear. The estimated outcomes of such development will be as follows:

• An authentic database for the rural road network.
• A systematic methodology for preparation of master plan for rural roads.
• For the first time a true picture of accessibility levels of settlement or a group of settlements shall be available.
• Developmental strategies based on rural accessibility to health care, education, etc. will be available.
• Capacity building of local agencies in planning, programming and budgeting of rural roads.
• Efficiency in decision making with respect to any rural development programme.
• Rational budgeting and management of fiscal resources for rural network.
• Most convenient data exchange between organizations.
• Timely and efficient management will be possible in case of any disaster.
• A unified tool for Planning Commission for countrywide district level planning.