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UTTARAKHAND RURAL ROADS DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (An Agency of Govt. of Uttarakhand, Panchayat & Rural Department)

1st Floor, Directorate of Panchayati Raj, Opposite IT Park, Sahastradhara Road, Dehradun (Uttarakhand) “Success Story on Rural Roads Maintenance through Community Contract Mode”

(Prodhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana)

July, 2020

Summary

The rural road network is back bone of the society for sustainable development. In this regard, the maintenance of rural roads especially off-carriageway maintenance is an immediate need of the society for easy access and smooth travel in Uttarakhand state due to undulating tpographical features and harsh climatic condition. Uttarakhand Rural Roads Development Agency has taken initiative to maintain off-carriageway of rural roads through community contracting mode with involvement of rural women groups called “Mahila Mangal Dals. This assignment is being carried out since 2016 with mutual agreement is being held in between PIUs and Mahila Mangal Dals (MMDs) as a focal User Groups of the rural roads. The summary of off-carriageway maintenance works through Mahila Mangal Dals (MMDs) on Community Contracting Mode are as follows: (i) A kind of annual contract is simply to handed over the contractor’s responsibility after construction

(DLP) to the local groups including Mahila Mangal Dals (MMDs) and Self Help Groups (SHGs) for women empowerment.

(ii) Initially, it was replicated as an experiment in 9 rural roads for off-carriage way maintenance through Mahila Mangal Dals (MMDs) during 2016-2017 with coverage length of 57.41 Km.

(iii) During the financial year 2019-2020, cumulatively increased from 9 rural roads to 30 roads after subsequent four years.

(iv) Replication of innovative contractual theme for women empowerment covers unity in women, strengthening, capacity building, and livelihood generation to minimize the migration from rural to urban areas.

(v) This contractual assignment covering the typical off-carriage way maintenance activities are as follows:

* Filling of path-holes, * Grass and bush cutting through basic hand tools, * White wash on parapets, * Clearing of slips, drains & culverts etc. (vi) The summary of off-carriage way maintenance works have representated in Table-1 given below:

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Table - 1: Summary of off-carriage way maintenance work on Rural Roads through Mahila Mangal Dals (MMDs)

Sl. No.

Financial Year(s)

No. of Roads

Proposed Length (Km)

No. of Administrative Units Details of MMDs Budget Allocated (in Lakh)

Annual Frequency of the work

Blocks Distt PIUs MMDs Members

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1. 2016-2017 9 57.41 6 3 5 14 1142 33.15

3 to 4 times (maximum) in a year.

2. 2017-2018 23 (9+14)

157.71 (57.41+100.3)

18 (6+12)

7 (3+4)

12 (5+7)

31 (14+17)

1419 (1142+277) 104.97

3. 2018-2019 29 (23+6)

194.06 (157.71+36.35)

24 (18+6)

9 (7+2)

17 (12+5)

36 (31+5)

1684 (1419+265) 131.47

4. 2019-2020 30 (29+1)

215.04 (194.06+20.98)

25 (24+1)

9 (7+2)

18 (17+1)

40 (36+4)

1777 (1684+93) 139.70

Total 30 215.04 25 9 18 40 1777 409.29 All Values on Cumulative Basis

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Under this community contracting programme three kinds of trainings were imparted initially during inception of work through Mahila Mangal Dals (MMDs) viz., Technical Trainings • Consists of theoretical and practical issues. • Theoretical explains the causes of road deterioration and the need for the road

maintenance. Managerial Trainings • How to execute the plan and organize the work. • How to manage off-carriage way maintenance work. • Looks at the monthly work plan. • Monthly payment plan. • Role of group leader and treasurer is explained. On-the-Job Trainings • Provides continuous improvement in their skills and to correct beginner’s errors. • Focus on efficient and effective executions of the maintenance activities. • How to use tools properly during execution of work at site.

Socio-economic Benefits of the Rural Roads constructed under PMGSY

• Improvement in Physical set-up as road network for rural connectivity and Social

Infrastructure such as establishment of new shops, business and enterpreneuorship centres etc.

• Opportunities for Employment Potential to skilled; semi-skilled & unskilled groups. • Easily accessible in remote and inaccessible rural areas, primary health centers (PHCs)

such as in hospitals during emergency period. • Least capital and operation costs. • Least maintenance costs like off-carriage way maintenance routine work through

“Mahila Mangal Dals” at local level. • Least involvement of resettlement & rehabilitation issues and land acquisition. • Routine maintenance of rural roads at local level through women involvement, which

will minimize the rate of migration. • Empowerment of rural women groups and community development as a whole. • Better control over funds at local level with cheap cost within less time. • Development of leadership and level of confidence in the women groups. . • Savings in expenditure by minimizing contractors profit. • Quick control over social crimes (thefts) and immediate rescue and relief during disaster

like fire, cloud burst, landslides, earthquake etc.

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Annexure – I

Photo Gallery

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