Road maintenance through community contracting as an instrument of rural development in India by mobile applications

Abstract

India has most of the rural-based road network with 70.23% and the total rural network of about 39.3 lakh Km’s for the year 2015-16. In countries like India 2/3rd of the population lives in rural areas and they contribute 46% to the gross national income. The rural road network has increased on an average of 1.55 times for the past seven decades. With increase in the road network rapidly, maintenance becomes complex and at the same time it is essential to maintain roads regularly for improving their serviceability. Maintaining these roads under community-based contracting by the local villagers will give an opportunity for employment and reduces their migration to urban areas. Road tracking and condition survey applications were used for preparing the database of the road network. Data collected was further imported into the computer system to prepare the maintenance plans, contract packages and tenders are called from the community. Contracts are allocated to group members in a community based on age, gender, interest, residence, ethnic group, poverty and leadership skills as well as other skills like reading, writing, and math skills. Community contracting is applicable for small works like bush clearing, clearing side drains, pothole patching and rejuvenate/fog spray. Giving these types of works to the local community will indirectly develop the social, economic and cultural ethics of the rural areas. It also helps in reducing the paper works and improves the quality of work as those works are done by local people.