R D Singh Bandral
Roads were compared to blood vessels by the then Prime Minister of India, namely; Atal Bihari Vajpayee, which will run through the length and breadth of the nation, connecting every nook and corner of the country. With a motive to connect distant villages with towns and cities, the Prime Minister launched PMGSY (Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana) in the year 2000, which functions under the Ministry of Rural Development Department, Govt. of India. Earlier the scheme was fully centre sponsored, but from 2015-16 the pattern of funding was revised; in which 60% share is from Central Government and 40% if from State Government.
Just like arteriosclerosis of arteries, which happens in humans during late ages and causes multiple problems, the condition of PMGSY roads in most of hilly regions of Jammu and Kashmir is no different, as most of such roads are dirt roads, where passengers of far flung region are dancing to death tunes on daily basis or the road is in such a condition that it is fit for mules, but not even for two wheelers.
The PMGSY project was seen as a gold mine by contractors for themselves, resulting influx of various newbie into this line of contruction, without having previous experience of construction of road on hilly regions. Due to nepotism and political interference many projects were procured by influential persons or someone near and dear to them. On the other hand, the people in far flung villages were in ecstasy with a thought that there will be road in their villages, ignorant to the fact; how it is to be constructed and will it be able to complete in all respects.
With the course of time, the impact of mismanagement and lackadaisical approach on the part of PMGSY department, started to bear fail results, leaving most of the roads in very poor condition, due to which road accidents has become a routine news. Most of the accidents took place in erstwhile Distt. Doda, Rajouri and Poonch regions of Jammu division, due to tough terrain and poor condition of roads, which are only the dirt roads, rather than being a proper bituminized roads. The list of such unfortunate events is very long, which makes one to shed his tears; as on 17th march, 2019, an accident took place at Kila Seri on PMGSY road, which is from Chanderkote to Rajgarh in District Ramban, which cost 11 lives among which 5 were children. On 20th July, 2019, 4 people lost their lives in an accident on Pogal-paristan road in Distt. Ramban. Similarly, on 22nd June, 2019, a similar accident took place in Distt. Kishtwar, where a matador turned turtle. Again , on 20th March, 2020, a person lost his life, while he was driving on a PMGSY road in Kumate region of District Ramban. Situation, is no different with other other rural roads also, whether they may be under PMGSY or PWD(R&B), like; Thakrai road in Kishtwar, Chanderkote to Samthi road in Distt. Ramban, Doda to Kastigarh road in Distt. Doda, Gujjar Pul to Gurinala in Distt. Kishtwar, PMGSY road in Kumate in Distt. Ramban and many others. There is one PMGSY road constructed from Kora Pani to Ranka Village in Block Assar, District Doda, which was totally wastage of funds, as the dirt road or Stage-I road, is used for only mules and if it has to be utilised, then again they have to approve DPR for cutting and excavation work i.e. starting again and all this has happened due to PMGSY department has turned a nelson’s eye.
An official data available on the website of PMGSY reveals that; in the year 2018-2019, the target length to be achieved in J&K was 2800km and the completed length was 1622km, in as much as, the target habitations to be connected under the scheme were 520 and the connected habitations were 221. In the same way, for the year 2019-20 the target length to be achieved was 3000 km and the achieved length under the scheme was 1086.80 km. Moreover, for the year 2019-20 the target habitations to be covered under PMGSY scheme were 467 and the number of connected habitations were 148. Therefore, their data speaks for themselves.
Most of the PMGSY roads in the erstwhile Distt. Doda are in Stage-I, also called as dirt road, condition of which worsens during monsoon season or winters, on which vehicles ply, despite all risk. As per PMGSY road scheme and guidelines, every road is to be constructed in two phases, in which Stage-I includes construction of Dirt road, which involves cutting and excavation work and Stage-II involves laying concrete, in as much as, bituminization of road with proper culverts and road side guard. For this purpose, there is one rural road safety manual, which has to be followed. It is also provided in the said guidelines that, every PMGSY road is to be completed in 9 working months and if adversely affected by seasonal factor, it shall not exceed 12 months. But here in J&K, all guidelines and procedures are catching dust, with no implementation on ground, like; the Chanderkote to Samthi PMGSY road started in the year 2010 and till date it has not completed, moreover, even at Stage-II the contractors are doing cutting and excavation work, which was left by Stage-I contractor due to improper execution and ignorance of PMGSY department, who didn’t keep an eye over earlier contractor. With hue and cry over the issue, the people of such region ply daily on such risky route. Moreover, due to rampant construction, property of many villagers also got damage.
The PMGSY roads has also come up with some other problems for rusty villagers. Due to ignorance of law by not only indenting department, but also by the revenue department, poor villagers have to knock the doors of the court to seek justice. Every Government project involves various laws and procedure for their execution on ground, similarly for the construction of PMGSY road, the constructing department has to legally acquire the land through Revenue Department by invoking Land Acquisition Act. Whereas, the PMGSY department in an utter disregard to law started construction of road without formally acquiring land from their owners under law, thus acting like land mafia and notification were issued later on by the revenue department, resulting unnecessary litigation in courts. Not only this, the compensation payment procedure bred corruption in Revenue Department, where the officers upto the rank of collector were found fixing their share, as to release compensation in favour of beneficiaries who are mostly poor villagers.
Thus, due to being in poor condition, the PMGSY roads proved to be no weather road, rather than being a all weather road, price of which proved to be very hefty.
(The author is a practising Advocate at J&K High Court, Jammu.)
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