Parliament Question: Funds for Quality of Roads under PMGSY

O.I.H. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5269 ANSWERED ON 24/03/2026 FUNDS FOR QUALITY OF ROADS UNDER PMGSY 5269. Shri Mahesh Kashyap: Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) the amount of funds earmarked annually for ensuring the quality of roads and for their regular maintenance under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY); (b) the amount of funds approved and actually spent under the maintenance head under the said scheme during the last three years in Chhattisgarh particularly in the Bastar Lok Sabha Constituency; (c) whether there is any provision for an independent third-party inspection system to monitor the quality of roads under the scheme; and (d) if so, the action taken on the shortcomings found during quality testing in the Bastar region? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN) (a) & (b): PMGSY roads are constructed by the State Governments with a design life for at least 10 years. As per PMGSY guidelines, maintenance of roads constructed under the programme is the responsibility of the State Governments, and all road works are covered by initial five-year maintenance contracts to be entered into along with the construction contract, with the same contractor, as per the Standard Bidding Document. Maintenance funds to service the contract are required to be budgeted by the State Governments and placed at the disposal of the State Rural Roads Development Agencies (SRRDAs) in a separate maintenance account. On expiry of this 5 year post construction maintenance, PMGSY roads are required to be placed under Zonal maintenance contracts consisting of 5 year maintenance, including renewal as per cycle, from time to time. Page 1 of 3Regional Review Meetings (RRMs) are conducted with the nodal departments of the state governments, at regular intervals as a measure to monitor the progress & for effective implementation of the PMGSY scheme in the States. Also, Area Officer visits are organised by the Ministry for physical inspection and verification of all the programmes run by the Department of Rural Development, including PMGSY. The amount of funds earmarked annually by the State Government for regular maintenance of PMGSY roads in the State of Chhattisgarh is as follows:- (Rs. in crore) Sl. No. Financial Year Funds allocated 1. 2022-23 816.05 2. 2023-24 740.55 3. 2024-25 328.10 Details of the expenditure of the maintenance funds out of the said amount in the Bastar district are as follows: (Rs. in crore) Financial Year Expenditure 2022-23 64.69 2023-24 51.81 2024-25 32.42 (c): PMGSY envisages a three-tier Quality Assurance Mechanism to ensure the quality of road works during construction. The first tier of this mechanism is in-house quality control at the Programme Implementation Unit (PIU) level. Second-tier is structured as an independent quality monitoring at the State level through State Quality Monitors (SQMs) in which provision of regular inspection of PMGSY works has been envisaged. The third-tier is an independent monitoring mechanism at the Central level. Under this tier, independent National Quality Monitors (NQMs) are engaged for inspections of PMGSY roads, selected at random. Action Taken Reports of the road works graded as Satisfactory Requiring Improvement (SRI) and Unsatisfactory (U) by the State Quality Monitors are monitored by the respective State Governments. Similarly, for works graded as Satisfactory Requiring Improvement (SRI) and Unsatisfactory (U) on the basis of observations of National Quality Monitors, Action Taken Reports are monitored and processed by the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA). To promote transparency in the Scheme, it is being ensured that independent monitors at the second and the third tier take atleast 10 digital photographs at the work site Page 2 of 3including one of the field laboratories, for each road work inspected and upload the inspection reports on PMGSY programme management & monitoring website i.e. OMMAS, to facilitate public viewing of quality of road works being executed under the programme. Also, the abstract of the said Inspection Report is also uploaded on the website. Further, to promote transparency and effective monitoring, the Superintending Engineer concerned with the zone/region has been asked to request the concerned Member of Parliament and Zilla Panchayat Pramukh representing the zone/region, once in six months, to select any PMGSY project(s) for joint inspection. Similarly, the Executive Engineer in charge of a division has been asked to request the MLA/ Chairperson of the Intermediate Panchayat concerned, once in three months, for joint inspection, and the Assistant Engineer in- charge of the sub-division has been asked to request the concerned Sarpanch of the Gram Panchayat once in two months to select any PMGSY project(s) for joint inspection. (d): As per Para 15.1 of the Programme Guidelines, ensuring the quality of road works is the responsibility of the State Governments who are implementing the programme. Therefore, any shortcomings found during quality testing are normally sent to the State Quality Coordinator (SQC) for inquiry and necessary action. In case an adequate response is not received within the stated time schedule or the reply seems insufficient, the National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA) deputes National Quality Monitors (NQMs), and further processing is done on the basis of the NQM report. Details of quality inspections conducted by NQMs and SQMs viz- a-viz the shortcomings in Bastar district during April, 2023-March, 2026 (upto 19.03.2026 are indicated as below : Completed Works Ongoing works Maintenance works Total no. U% Total no. U% Total no. U% of works of works of works inspected inspected inspected NQM 7 0% 0 0% 13 30.77% SQM 31 0% 11 0% 202 0% U- Unsatisfactory percentage of works inspected. ***** Page 3 of 3