The spirit and objective of PMGSY-I was to provide good all-weather road connectivity to eligible unconnected habitations. The unit of this programme is a habitation and not a revenue village or a Panchayat. A habitation is a cluster of population, living in an area, the location of which does not change over time. Desam, Dhanis, Tolas, Majras, Hamlets, etc. are commonly used to describe habitations.

The population, as recorded in the Census 2001, shall be the basis for determining the population size of the habitation. The population of all Habitations within a radius of 500 metre (1.5 km of path distance in case of Hills) may be clubbed together to determine the population size. In the blocks bordering international boundary in the hill States (as identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs), however, all habitations within a path distance of 10 km may be treated as a cluster for this purpose. This cluster approach would enable the provision of connectivity to a number of Habitations, particularly in Hill/ mountainous areas.

A special dispensation has been allowed to Arunachal Pradesh under PMGSY by extending the Cluster approach to all International border districts in the State by clubbing population with the path distance of 10 km and treating as a Cluster.

Unconnected habitations are listed as per the priority (generally, habitations with a higher population, as per 2001 Census, would be connected first) and depending upon the funds likely to be made available for the State, the list of road works to be taken up under PMGSY-I will be finalized each year by the District Panchayat through a consultative process involving Panchayati Raj Institutions and elected representatives.

The objective of PMGSY-I was to provide road connectivity to unconnected habitations as mentioned in response to Question 1 above. Any proposal for road connectivity may be perceived as per the programme guidelines.

A simple, non-formal transect walk shall be organised by the Assistant Engineer at the time of preparation of DPRs to finalise the alignment. The Panchayat Pradhan, local patwari, the JE, Local Revenue and Forest officials, Women PRI members and representatives of Women Self Help Groups (SHGs) also participate in the transect walk to determine the most suitable alignment, sort out the issues of land availability and to moderate any adverse social and environmental impact, eliciting necessary community participation in the programme. After transect walk, the minutes should be placed and approved by the Grama Sabha.Local people including those likely to be affected by proposed alignment are also allowed to put forth their view in this process.

An all-weather road is one that is negotiable in all seasons of the year. This implies that the road-bed is drained effectively but this does not necessarily imply that it should be paved surface with blacktopping or cement concrete. A gravel road can also be an all-weather road.

Road portions passing through built-up residential areas are prone to damages caused by wastewater from households. Programme guidelines provide for the construction of cement concrete pavement or cement/stone block pavements along with covered or uncovered Pucca side drains as per site conditions.

The objective of the PMGSY is to provide an All-weather Road with necessary culverts and other cross drainage structures, which is operable throughout the year to the eligible unconnected habitations as per PMGSY guidelines in the rural areas. Rural roads constructed under PMGSY must have proper embankment and drainage. Adequate number and type of Cross Drainage (CD) works, including causeways, where appropriate, must be provided based on site requirements ascertained through necessary investigation. Minor bridges can be provided wherever necessary.

A necessary advisory has been already issued to the State Governments to include the culverts/CDs bridges along with the road proposals.

The proposal of long-span Bridges should be prepared as a separate DPR. However, such proposals of Bridges should be submitted with road proposals in the same batch.

Bridges on rivers/streams crossing the alignment of the road are taken up under the programme along with the road proposal. The Ministry issued PMGSY-III guidelines increasing the span of Long-Span Bridges (LSBs) for funding under PMGSY as follows:

• Up to 200 m in respect of Special Category States and LWE districts identified by the MHA.
• Upto 150 m in respect of other States.

Rural road is a State subject and it is the responsibility of State Government/ District Panchayat to ensure the availability of land for construction of road works under the programme. In view of the common benefit, generally, the land for construction of roads under PMGSY is made available by the villagers/Panchayat free of cost through voluntary donation. However, in rare cases, if the land is acquired for construction of roads under PMGSY, the State Government is required to pay compensation.

Executants for construction of roads are selected through open competitive bidding for which well-established procedure for tendering is followed by the State Government. As per provisions, the bidders who have the prescribed qualifications and have the capacity to execute the works are required to take part in the bidding process. To enhance the transparency in tendering and speed up the tendering process, e- procurement of bids has been made mandatory.

As per provisions of the contract, the contractor is liable for any defect that may occur until 5 years after completion of the road work. To enforce liability of defects, the security amount is deducted from the bills of the contractors. The contractor has to rectify the defect in the above period and if the rectification has not been carried out, the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) is required to rectify the defect and recover the cost from the security deposit of the contractor.

In case the following milestones are not achieved by the Contractor, he shall be liable for payment of liquidated damages for the period that the completion date is later than the intended completion date as per clause 44 of the General Conditions of Contract (GCC):-

• If 1/8th of the value of entire Contract work has not been completed upto 1/4th of the period allowed for the completion.
• If 3/8th of the value of entire Contract work has not been completed upto ½ of the period allowed for the completion.
• If 3/4th of the value of entire Contract work has not been completed upto 3/4th of the period allowed for the completion.

1% of the initial Contract price, routed off to the nearest thousand, per week, is the amount of liquidated damages for delay in completion subjected to a maximum of 10% of the initial Contract price.

Every contractor is required to establish a field laboratory in every package of road works in which he/she required to test the quality of material and workmanship under the supervision of executing agency. In addition to checking of quality by departmental officers of executing agency, the State Government is required to deploy independent monitors for monitoring of the quality of road works. Independent National Quality Monitors (NQMs) are also deployed by the Central Government for monitoring the quality of works randomly.

Citizen Information Board in the local language containing the following detailed information of work is provided on each work:-

• Description of every layer of work.
• Description of the quantity of material involved in work.
• How the road will be built and description.

General information board containing information about executing agency, contractor, estimated cost of work and time for completion is also provided on every worksite.

A citizen can lodge any complaint to the head of PIU. The address of PIU is available in the Information Board available on every worksite. The citizen can also complain to the State Quality Coordinator (SQC) of State Rural Roads Development Agency of the State:-

• State Quality Coordinator (SQC) /Head of the Programme Implementation Unit (PIU-in the District, or a compact group of Districts, with an officer of the rank of at least Executive Engineer as its head) is to receive all complaints. All complaints are to be acknowledged and registered by the SQC.
• SQC is to arrange enquiry into all complaints, if required, by deputing independent State Quality Monitors (SQMs).
• Complainants are to be informed about the action taken within 30 days.
• National Quality Monitors (NQM) is deputed to probe into serious cases of complaints received by the Ministry/National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA).
• State-level Standing Committee headed by the Chief Secretary/Additional Chief Secretary is to review the status of action taken on complaints.

Citizens can also file their complaints on the web site www.omms.nic.in. The website has a “Feedback” menu bar, which can be accessed by all the citizens.

The citizen can also lodge a complaint to Director (P-III), National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India at its address:-

5th Floor, NBCC Tower, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066. Phone No. 011-26716930.
E- mail: nrrda[at]nic[dot]in In addition, feedback can be lodged on www.pmgsy.nic.in

In the interest of total transparency and to ensure the pro-active role of public representatives, the States have been advised to organize a time-bound inspection of road works with local public representatives in the following manner:-

• The Superintending Engineer would request the Hon’ble M.P. and Zila Pramukh once in 6 months duration to select road works in respective areas and joint inspection/visit would be organized.
• The Executive Engineer would request the Hon’ble MLA and Chairperson of Intermediate Panchayat once in three months duration to select road works in respective areas and joint inspection/visit would be organized.
• The Assistant Engineer would request the Sarpanch once in two months duration to select road works in respective areas and joint inspection/visit would be organized.

Yes, information about the programme and details about every work is available on programme website www.omms.nic.in and www.pmgsy.nic.in.The Online Monitoring and Management System (OMMS) is being used for effective management and monitoring under the programme. The required data is entered by the field level staff and the State units under this web-based package.

Along with the tendering for the construction the routine maintenance of road works for five years after completion of work is also included. Programme guidelines envisage a transfer of road works for maintenance to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) after 5 years upon completion of the road work.

The programme envisages connecting all eligible unconnected habitations by way of an all-weather road as per Core Network with a population of 500 persons (as per 2001 Census) and above in plain areas and 250 persons and above (as per 2001 Census) in the Special Category States (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttarakhand), Tribal (Schedule-V) areas, the Desert Areas (as identified in Desert Development Programme) and in Selected Tribal and Backward Districts (as identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs/Planning Commission). In the critical 267 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected blocks (as identified by MHA), additional relaxation has been given to connect habitations with population 100 persons and above (2001 census).

The Government had launched PMGSY–II in May 2013 which envisages consolidation of the existing Rural Road Network to improve its overall efficiency as a provider of transportation services for people, goods and services. It aims to cover the up-gradation of existing selected rural roads based on their economic potential and their role in facilitating the growth of rural market centers and rural hubs. PMGSY-II was conceived on a sharing basis between the Centre and the States.

PMGSY-II focuses on the roads constructed/upgraded under PMGSY-I, eligible Through Routes/Link Routes under PMGSY-I but not yet sanctioned and freshly identified Through Routes/ Link Routes in revised District Rural Roads Plans (DRRPs) to be upgraded from existing carriageway width upto 5.5 meters carriageway width depending upon traffic volume and growth center potential.

It was proposed to cover overall 50,000 km road length by up-gradation under the PMGSY-II programme at an estimated cost of Rs.33,030crore (at 2012-13 prices), including administrative and management costs. The cost will be shared between the Centre and the States/UTs on 75:25 for the Plain Areas and 90:10 basis for the Special Areas. Later on, the fund sharing pattern was changed to 60:40 for plain States and 90:10 for special category States and hill States. All States and UTs are eligible under this programme.

The Government had launched PMGSY–III in December 2019 for consolidation of Through Routes and Major Rural Links connecting habitations, inter-alia, to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals at an estimated cost of Rs. 80,250 crore. A total length of 1,25,000 km is proposed to be constructed.All the States and UTs are eligible under phase-III of PMGSY.

The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was started in the year 2000 as 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme. However, the funding pattern was modified to 60:40 between the Centre and States for all States except for 8 North Eastern and 3 Himalayan States for which the ratio was fixed at 90:10 based on the recommendations of the Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The funding pattern was modified from 2015-16 to enhance the allocation to accelerate the execution of PMGSY and accommodate new proposals of the State Governments.

In all union territories, 100% of funds will be provided by the Central Government.

The construction of roads under PMGSY is as per the procedures laid in PMGSY guidelines which states that the proposals are prepared by the selection of roads from Comprehensive New Connectivity Priority List (CNCPL) or Comprehensive Up-gradation Priority List (CUPL) after due consultation with Hon’ble Members of Parliament and approval from the Zilla Panchayat/State Level Standing Committee (SLSC). Proposals are scrutinized by the STAs and complied at State level SRRDA and sent to NRIDA. NRIDA, after sample scrutiny and compliance from the States, would place these proposals before the Empowered Committee for consideration and recommendations of Empowered Committee are submitted to Minister of Rural Development and in case the proposals meet the programme requirements, they will be cleared.

The roads under PMGSY are constructed as per the Specifications for Rural Roads of Ministry of Rural Development published by IRC.

The Government has approved a Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely "Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas" to improve the rural road connectivity in the worst LWE affected districts from the security angle.

The project will be implemented as a vertical under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

The fund sharing pattern of the LWE road project will be the same as that of PMGSY i.e. in the ratio of 60:40 between the Centre and States for all States except for eight North Eastern and three Himalayan States (Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand) for which it is 90:10. The government has increased annual allocation to the states by Rs 5,000 crore. Under RCPLWE MDR, ODR and Village roads only permitted for construction. RCPLWE programme is under the Ministry of Rural Development.

Rural Roads Manual, IRC SP:20 and based on recommendations of Expert committee, the roadway width prescribed for Plain and Rolling area is 7.50 m for Trough Roads and 6.00 m for Link roads. The carriageway width for Through road is 3.75 m and Link road is 3.00 m. If a link road carries traffic more than 100 motorised vehicles per day, the carriageway width will be 3.75 m.

In respect of Mountainous and steep area, the Roadway width is 6.00 m for both Through road and Link road and carriageway width is 3.75 m for Through roads and 3.00 m for Link roads. If a link road carries traffic more than 100 motorised vehicles per day, the carriageway width will be 3.75 m.

PMGSY II & III guidelines permitted upto 5.50 m carriageway width and 9 m Roadway width based on the traffic intensity of roads and growth potential.

However, States can also propose 7 m carriageway width roads provided that the pro- rata cost beyond 5.50 m carriageway width shall be borne by the State Government.

Rural Roads i.e Other District Roads (ODRs), Village Roads only permitted under PMGSY. Expressway, National Highways, State Highways, and Major District Roads are not permitted under PMGSY.

Guidelines for the Design of Flexible Pavements for Low Volume Rural Roads IRC SP:72-2015 published by the Indian Roads Congress(IRC) is being followed for thickness of flexible pavements. In case, the projected traffic is more than 2 MSA, IRC: 37-2012 is followed up to 5 MSA and beyond 5 MSA IRC:37:2018 is being followed.

Guidelines for the Design and construction of Cement Concrete Pavements for Rural Roads IRC SP:62-2014 published by the Indian Roads Congress is being followed for thickness of rigid pavement.

PMGSY Programme Guidelines expenditure on Plantation is not permitted through the Programme Fund sanctioned by the MoRD. However, the plantation of fruit- bearing and other suitable trees on both sides of the roads can be taken up by State Govt. or Panchayat from their funds. The planting fruit-bearing and other trees on PMGSY roads can be taken up through MGNREGA. IRC has published detailed guidelines on Tree Plantation Along Rural Roads, IRC: SP:103:2014.

In order to encourage locally available materials and use of new technologies for the construction of road under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), guidelines were issued by the Ministry, wherein the State Governments are required to propose minimum 15% of the total length of annual proposals under New technologies such as Cement stabilization, Lime stabilization, Cold mix, Waste plastics, Fly ash, Cell filled concrete, Panelled cement concrete pavement, etc. Further, the Ministry of Rural Development specifications has also been relaxed in respect of grading of materials for the Granular Sub Base layer in order to encourage the usage of locally available/ naturally occurring material/marginal materials. The new technology initiative guidelines also permit the States to propose new materials/technologies accredited by IRC for road construction under PMGSY.

As per PMGSY/IRC guidelines proposed road should be either flexible pavement or Rigid pavement but rigid pavement is restricted only in the habitation portion. Apart from the conventional rigid pavement, Panel cement concrete and Cell Field Concrete roads are also constructed under New Technology.

As per PMGSY guidelines, every road should have sufficient shoulder width which allows the pedestrian movement, crossing the vehicles safely and save the road edge from deterioration. In PMGSY roads 3m, 3.75m and 5.5m carriageway width allowed and corresponding to these carriageways 1.5m, 1.875m and 1.75m shoulder- width respectively may be adopted on both side of the road however the width may be reduced in habitation/built up portion due to land unavailability.

In the rural road of PMGSY work, different types of protection work proposed which depend upon the site requirement and type of locally available material. In the hilly States, generally, the Gabion wall is preferred which is economical and locally available stone is used in this work. In the Eastern States like West Bengal, Bamboo is used for the protection of road embankment where traffic is low. Other types of protection works are Random Rubble masonry wall, Wire crate wall, Toe wall, Breast wall, and the Concrete wall may also be proposed.

The relevant projects would be executed by the Project Implementation Unit (PIUs) and completed within 9 months from the date of issue of the Work order.

In this connection, it is clarified that:

• The period of 9 months shall comprise 9 working months. In case the period for execution is likely to be adversely affected by monsoon or other seasonal factors, the time for execution may be suitably determined while approving the work programme, but shall not exceed 12 calendar months in any case.
• Where a package comprises more than one roadwork, the total time given for completion of the package shall not exceed 12 calendar months.
• Time limit up to 18 calendar months would be allowed for completion of Stage-I works of hill roads (in hill states). In respect of Hill States where the work may be executed in two stages, the time limit for completion of State-II works will remain the same as mentioned at (i) & (ii) above.
• In the case of selected tribal and backward districts, the time limit upto 24 calendar months would be allowed for completion of work. However, no extra liability, if any, on account of cost escalation shall be met from the programme fund provided by the Ministry of Rural Development, GoI.

Similarly, the time period of 18-24 months would be allowed for completion of cross drainage works exceeding 25-meter length, depending on site conditions. In both cases, however, no extra liability, if any, on account of cost escalation shall be met from the programme funds provided by the Ministry of Rural Development. These conditions may be incorporated in the bid documents for bids to be invited for PMGSY projects in the future.

No. As per para 11.5 of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) programme guidelines, all costs due to time overrun, arbitration/judicial award shall be borne by the State Government. In case, the value of tenders received is above the estimate that has been cleared by the Ministry, the difference (tender premium) pooled for the entire State for works cleared in a phase/batch will be borne by the State Government. Revision of cost estimates is not permissible in case of an increase in prices of raw material after sanction of the project.

As per the direction issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, it is required to undertake a road safety audit at the design stage of the roads. Therefore, for all the roads of length more than 5km under PMGSY-III, road safety audit is mandatory.

In PMGSY roads quality is monitoring in two steps: -

Before sanction of Project

The scrutiny of DPRs by State Technical Agencies (STAs) shall be a thorough and detailed so as to ensure that geometric and physical design is appropriate and economic, that the specifications are adequate and based on site conditions and that the estimation of quantities is accurate and reasonable. PMGSY roads are to be of the highest quality and it is the STAs that will have to provide the new inputs into the system to ensure the paradigm shift in terms of proper designing of roads for excellence with the economy. Apart from STA, Principal Technical Agencies (PTAs) carry out random ex-post-facto checks of the Proposals scrutinised by STAs to identify systemic issues. Finally, NRIDA also scrutinise the project on a sample basis (15% of total project) then it will goes for technical sanction.

After Sanction of Project

Ensuring the quality of the road works is the responsibility of the State Governments, who are implementing the Programme. To this end, all works must be effectively supervised. The Quality Control Register prescribed by the NRIDA to operationalise the provisions of the mandatory testing prescribed under the specifications shall invariably be maintained for each of the road works. Payment shall not be made to the Contractor unless the tests have been conducted as per the prescribed procedure and the results have been found to be satisfactory. A three-tier Quality Management mechanism is envisaged under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. The first tier of quality management mechanism is an in-house quality control system of the Executing Agency whereas, the second tier of quality management mechanism will be an independent quality assurance system operationalised by the State Government. Therefore, the State Governments would be responsible for the first two-tiers of the Quality Management Structure. The third tier is envisaged as an independent quality management mechanism operationalised by the NRIDA, as such, this tier would be enforced by NRIDA through the National Quality Monitor (NQM).

As per Operational Manual of PMGSY, once the proposals are received from the State, NRIDA will scrutinize at least 15% of DPRs on representative/ sample basis which are of higher average cost. Listing observations on the scrutinized DPRs NRIDA shall record a technical note on that basis and the State is asked to correct/modify the all the DPRs at SRRDA level and up load the revised/modified DPR cost on OMMAS. Thereafter, NRIDA will process the proposals and submit them to the Empowered Committee for clearance.

Further as per Operations Manual of NRIDA after submission of project proposals by the State Government at NRIDA along with all necessary certificates and uploading of data on OMMAS, at least 15 days period is required for clearance of proposals by Ministry subject to the full compliance of observations of NRIDA by the State.

It is expected that all road infrastructure that is planned, designed, constructed and maintained is sustainable not only economically, socially and environmentally but also resilient to changes in climate over a long term. Environmentally sustainable infrastructure mitigates carbon emission both during construction and maintenance and contributes to the transition to a lower carbon economy.

In the view of above, to ensure increased resilience and environmental sustainability of the rural road various climate resilient measures have been adopted for the roads constructed under PMGSY.

Also in the updated DPR template, one separate chapter titled 'Climate Resilient and Carbon Reduction Strategies' is included. This chapter deals with different measures to be adopted for climate resiliency in the road project and details relating to the compliance of the project with environmental codes of practice. It also covers justification for adoption of particular technology over conventional as well as other available technology.

Engineering Institutions of repute have been appointed as State Technical Agencies (STAs) upon the recommendation of the State Governments and certain pre- fixed qualification parameters. The State Technical Agencies (STAs) scrutinise the project proposals prepared by the State Governments and provide technical support to them. The scrutiny by the STAs expedites the process of project clearance, establishes a certain degree of technical discipline and rigor in the implementation of PMGSY at the same time, it is administratively convenient for State authorities.

Also 7 nos of Indian Institutes of Technologies and other premier technical institutions were appointed as Principal Technical Agencies (PTAs) to provide technical support and take up research projects, study and evaluate different technologies and advise on measures to improve the quality and cost norms of Rural Roads.