WHY INDIAN ROADS CANNOT MATCH WITH THE QUALITY OF EUROPEAN ROADS ?

 

World road quality index 2019 shows that Singapore, Switzerland and Netherlands rank 1,2 & 3 with score 6.5, 6.4 & 6.3 respectively. India ranks 46 as per this index with a score of 4.6. According to NCRB there were 4.03 lakhs road accidents in India in 2021 killing 1.55 lakhs and injuring 3.71 lakhs people. Road conditions also must be a contributing factor in these road accidents. Neither the government nor the media nor any social organisations show much attention to these human loss. None has come forward suggesting ways and means to bring down these numbers drastically.

As per the available information, annual maintenance cost of existing roads in India is Rs 1,50,000 per km. Budget allocation for roads and highways in India for FY 2017-2023 was 1.21 trillion rupees. Unfortunately, whatever the amount allotted by the Central and State governments are said to be not fully utilised for the purpose it meant for as huge amount of corruptive practices are involved in it. Therefore, it may be ensured by the government and the various anti-corruption departments that cent per cent of the fund allocated by the government for road construction and maintenance fall on the roads than going to private pockets. If timely action is not taken to prevent corruption in our country we may have to pay high prices for it. Let us not ignore the the fact that the full details of the corruption may not be unknown to all the concerned departments.

K V George