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New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) Inspection of rural roads conducted by National Quality Monitors (NQMs) during the last three years and 2025-26 led to reporting of unsatisfactory quality in 510 completed works under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday.

Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said that during this period the monitors checked 3,986 completed works.

He said the inspection reports related to 2025-26 are based on the exercise undertaken till November 30.

Out of the 9,214 ongoing works inspected by monitors under the PMGSY, as many as 783 were reported as unsatisfactory, said Paswan.

The quality of at least 252 bridge works was graded as unsatisfactory by the NQMs after inspection of 1,888 projects, the MoS said.

He said to ensure that quality monitoring is being done properly on the ground, it has been made mandatory to set up a Quality Monitoring Cell under each State Rural Road Development Agency (SRRDA) and State Quality Coordinators (SQCs) have been entrusted with the task of scrutinising all reports of SQMs and giving a certificate to this effect to the Ministry.

Paswan said that the maximum number of completed road projects of unsatisfactory quality were reported from Odisha. In the state, 66 works out of 304 were faulted by monitors. Assam had the second-highest number of 53 unsatisfactory quality projects – out of 242 inspected by NQMs.

The data shared by the MoS showed that in Bihar 324 completed road projects were inspected and out of these 37 were of poor quality. In Uttar Pradesh, 479 completed projects were inspected and 35 were graded as unsatisfactory.

In Uttarakhand, 143 road projects were inspected and out of these 33 were found to be of poor quality, he said.

In West Bengal, 138 were inspected and 19 were graded unsatisfactory; in Meghalaya 146 were inspected 32 found unsatisfactory; in Maharashtra 114 were inspected and 13 found of poor quality; in Karnataka 153 were inspected and 21 found unsatisfactory and in Jharkhand 170 were inspected and 34 found unsatisfactory in quality.

Paswan said to promote transparency and effective monitoring, the PMGSY programme guidelines provide that the Superintending Engineer of a zone/region will request the concerned Member of Parliament and Zila Panchayat Pramukh representing the zone/region, once in six months, to select any PMGSY project(s) for joint inspection.

He said to enhance durability and cost efficiency, PMGSY encourages the use of approved green and alternative technologies, including cold mix, waste-plastic mixes, fly ash, cement-stabilized bases, and locally available materials in hilly and remote areas.

These technologies reduce energy consumption, improve performance in difficult terrains, and lower lifecycle costs, he said.

--IANS

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