Poor maintenance ruins PMGSY roads

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Sep 29: Most of the roads constructed under PMGSY in Manipur have dilapidated to the extreme because of poor maintenance.
Most PMGSY roads, particularly in remote hill areas, have been marred by disconnection, sinking and breaking down of culverts on account of poor maintenance.
As a result, many of these roads have been cut off.
Notably, PMGSY was launched as a flagship scheme in December 2000 with the primary objective of enhancing connectivity in rural areas and alleviating the socio-economic condition of rural people.
After the scheme was launched, many roads were constructed under the same scheme in rural and remote areas of the State.
However, the State Government could not provide adequate fund/matching share for the scheme since 2020-21. As a result, the roads constructed under PMGSY could not be maintained properly, sources said.
As per the guideline of PMGSY, the State Government must earmark adequate funds in its budget  and maintenance of PMGSY roads must be done every year.
As per the guideline, the contractor who constructed a PMGSY road must maintain the same for a period of five years (Defect Liability Period) with funds provided by the State Government.
After five years (Post Defect Liability Period) of construction, maintenance of the PMGSY roads must be done by the State Government, not necessarily by the contractors who constructed them.    
The State Government must earmark adequate funds for maintenance of PMGSY roads in its budget, said the sources.
For maintenance of PMGSY roads, an amount of Rs 20 crore was earmarked in the State budget for Defect Liability Period and another Rs 20 crore for Post Defect Liability Period.
Against these amounts earmarked in the budget, Rs 19.14 crore was released for Defect Liability Period and Rs 14.99 crore from Post Defect Liability Period.
Similar amounts of Rs 20 crore each were earmarked in the 2021-22 budget for Defect Liability Period and Post Defect Liability Period.
But not a single rupee was released for the Defect Liability Period.
For the Post Defect Liability Period, Rs 19 crore was released.
Again, Rs 20 each was earmarked in the budget for Defect Liability Period and Post Defect Liability Period in 2022-2023.
This time, the whole amount of Rs 20 crore for Defect Liability Period was released but not a single rupee was released for the Post Defect Liability Period.
Out of Rs 20 crore earmarked for Defect Liability Period in 2023-2024, not a single rupee was released.
As for the Post Defect Liability Period, the whole amount of Rs 20 crore was  released.
In 2024-25, an amount of Rs 15 crore was earmarked in the budget for the Defect Liability Period and another Rs 20 crore for the Post Defect Liability Period. But not a single rupee was released for either Defect Liability Period or Post Defect Liability Period.
A number of roads have been constructed in the State under PMGSY. At the same time, there were also many reports of not constructing the roads properly or not controlling the quality of the work.
There were also reports of withdrawing bills without blacktopping the roads or without constructing culverts which are integral parts of the roads. Yet, the State Government could not take up any concrete action    against discrepancies.
At the same time, the State Government is unable to earmark adequate funds for maintenance of PMGSY roads in its budget.
As such, many sections of people have been questioning whether the flagship scheme of PMGSY is able to deliver its intended objective in Manipur.
They have also highlighted the urgent need for the PR administration to remedy all the past discrepancies and lapses, and streamline the scheme.