March 16, 2022
Kalyan Banerjee speaks during the discussion and voting on the Demands for Grants under the control of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for 2022-23
Sir, while speaking on the Budget for the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, I will be committing a great
error unless I take the name of the great stalwart and former hon. Prime Minister, late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji. The Golden Quadrilateral or GQ was former Prime Minister, late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji’s first dream project and is enshrined as the biggest infrastructure intervention in the roadways sector in post-Independent India of making 5,846 kms. of highways with the start of the first phase of the National Highways Development Project.
Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji used to say ‘हमारेदेश मेंसड़कों मेंग््ढेहैंया ग््ढे मेंसड़क है।’ The stalwart who dreamed and has achieved his greatest contribution to infrastructure in India. Within months of assuming charge as Prime Minister in 1999, late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji called a meeting in the PMO to direct the Road Transport Ministry to map out 20 most congested areas of India and make a plan to create four-lane highways to ease congestion. What
emerged was the grand design to connect Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai for seamless movement of freight. Therefore, no one can ever forget the stalwart and great statesman of our country late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji for
development of roads and transport facilities in the country as the pathway has been shown by him in this country.
In the present fiscal, the Road Transport and Highways Ministry strives to reconstruct or construct 68.49 kms. of National Highways per day. The goal targeted by the Ministry is higher than the record development of 37 kms. daily
during 2019-2020 period. India has one of the largest road networks in the world. Roads have been in existence since ancient times after Ashoka and Chandragupta made great efforts to build roads. Having 32,87,263 square kms.
area of the country, Indian Railway covers 67,956 square kms. area with track length of 99,230 kms. as on March, 2020. The length of National Highways has grown up from 1,01,011 kms. in 2016 to 1,36,440 kms. in 2021 at an average of 7,086 kms. per year with 19.41 kms. per day construction rate. Most of the Indian roads are unsurfaced, that is, 42.65 per cent, and are not suitable for use of vehicular traffic. The poor maintenance of the roads aggravates
the problem especially in the rainy season. According to an estimate, there is about per year loss of Rs. 200 crore on the wear and tear of the vehicles, due to poor quality of roads. Road transportation has gradually increased over the years with improvement in connectivity between cities, towns, and villages. Highway construction has increased at 17 per cent CAR between 2016 and 2021. In cities, streets are very congested and most of the bridges and culverts are old and narrow. For the development of roads in rural and backward areas, Rs.15,000 crores were announced in the Union Budget 2021 under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) but still the States are waiting for the funds from the budget for the work which they have already completed. According to a study conducted by a global consultancy firm in 2018, traffic congestion during peak hours in four major cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and
Kolkata – costs the economy around Rs.1.47 lakh crore annually. Wayside amenities like repair shops, first aid centres, telephones, clean toilets, restaurants, rest places, trauma hospitals are lacking along the Indian roads and in
the national highways. There is very little attention on road safety and land traffic laws are wilfully violated due to lack of proper observations. There has been no stability in policy-making relating to highway development in the country. Due to long gestation period and low-returns, there is very little participation of private sector in road development in India and is around seven per cent of the total budget expenditure. The legislative framework for private investment in roads is also not satisfactory. Since there is no co-ordination between expert agencies and Government, their decisions are often conflicting and contradictory. Even there is little cooperation and co-ordination among different states. On the issue of Bank of Sanctions with the State Government, recently the
Standing Committee on Transport has suggested: “The Committee is of the view that the existing mechanism of bank of sanctions is causing a visible lack of clarity between the State Government departments concerned and the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, regarding the amount that the State is yet to be awarded. The Committee recommends that the Ministry may look into the issue and come up with suitable guidelines to ensurethat thereis noconfusion among the State Government Departments and the Ministry, regarding the share of funds to be received by the State, in any particular year, after factoring in the Bank of Sanctions.” Roads are bad and inadequate in India. There are 34 km. long roads per 100 sq. km area in India while in Japan 270 km. and in West Germany 167 km.
long roads per 100 sq. km area. India has 11 km highways per one lakh population and 3.32 km. road per thousandpopulation. Sir, 60 percent of villages still are without roads in India which adversely affects our agriculture and rural economy. Therefore, the Government should spend more on the development and construction of roads.
Another major problem is that roads are not maintained and repaired properly in India. Less than 0.1 per cent of the national income is spent on the maintenance of roads in India, while in Japan it is three percent of the national
income. It causes discomfort and quick depreciation of vehicles. India tops the world with 11per cent of global deathsin road accidents withabout 4.5 lakh road crashes per annum, in which 1.5 lakh people die which account for 11 per cent of all road crash deaths, witnessing 53 road crashes every hour; killing one person every four minutes.
The total vehicle production till December 2021 is estimated at 2,40,67,787 units, which is not even one per cent growth from thecorresponding number in 2015-16 at 2,40,16,599 units. Two-wheeler sales data of the lowermiddle-class families for April-December, 2021, is just 10 million units which shows that this demand is at a decadal low in the country. The low level of consumption in the economy needs immediate remedy. The new budget calls for a 35 per cent increase in spending, mainly on infrastructure related projects while allocation to roads and bridges dip over -2%. Since 2014-15 to 2020-21, the expenditureagainst the revised budget has been an average of 95 per cent of the allocation. Road engineering and construction are yet to gearup to meet the challenges of the futurelike achieving
the target of expanding the National Highway network by 25,000 km construction. Sir, while speaking on the Budget
for the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways, I will be committing a great error unless I take the name of the great stalwart and former hon. Prime Minister, late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji. The Golden Quadrilateral or GQ was former Prime Minister, late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji’s first dream project and is enshrined as the biggest infrastructure intervention in the roadways sector in post-Independent India of making 5,846 kms. of highways with the start of the first phase of the National Highways Development Project. Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji used to say ‘हमारेदेश मेंसड़कों मेंग््ढेहैंया ग््ढे मेंसड़क है।’ The stalwart who dreamed and has achieved his greatest contribution to infrastructure in India. Within months of assuming charge as Prime Minister in 1999, late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji called a meeting in the PMO to direct the Road Transport Ministry to map out 20 most congested areas
of India and make a plan to create four-lane highways to ease congestion. What emerged was the grand design to connect Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai for seamless movement of freight. Therefore, no one can ever forget the stalwart and great statesman of our country late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji for development of roads and transport facilities in the country as the pathway has been shown by him in this country. In the present fiscal, the Road Transport and Highways Ministry strives to reconstruct or construct 68.49 kms. of National Highways per day. The goal targeted by the Ministry is higher than the record development of 37 kms. daily during 2019-2020 period. India has one of the largest road networks in the world. Roads have been in existence since ancient times after Ashoka and Chandragupta made great efforts to build roads. Having 32,87,263 square kms. area of the country, Indian Railway covers 67,956 square kms. area with track length of 99,230 kms. as on March, 2020. The length of National Highways has grown up from 1,01,011 kms. in 2016 to 1,36,440 kms. in 2021 at an average of
7,086 kms. per year with 19.41 kms. per day construction rate. Most of the Indian roads are unsurfaced, that is, 42.65 per cent, and are not suitable for use of vehicular traffic. The poor maintenance of the roads aggravates
the problem especially in the rainy season. According to an estimate, there is about per year loss of Rs. 200 crore on the wear and tear of the vehicles, due to poor quality of roads. Road transportation has gradually increased over the years with improvement in connectivity between cities, towns, and villages. Highway construction has increased at 17 per cent CAR between 2016 and 2021. In cities, streets are very congested and most of the bridges and culverts are old and narrow. For the development of roads in rural and backward areas, Rs.15,000 crores were announced in the Union Budget 2021 under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) but still the States are waiting for the funds from the budget for the work which they have already completed. According to a study conducted by a global consultancy firm in 2018, traffic congestion during peak hours in four major cities – Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and
Kolkata – costs the economy around Rs.1.47 lakh crore annually. Wayside amenities like repair shops, first aid centres, telephones, clean toilets, restaurants, rest places, trauma hospitals are lacking along the Indian roads and in
the national highways. There is very little attention on road safety and land traffic laws are wilfully violated due to lack of proper observations. There has been no stability in policy-making relating to highway development in the country. Due to long gestation period and low-returns, there is very little participation of private sector in road development in India and is around seven per cent of the total budget expenditure. The legislative framework for private investment in roads is also not satisfactory. Since there is no co-ordination between expert agencies and Government, their decisions are often conflicting and contradictory. Even there is little cooperation and co-ordination among different states. On the issue of Bank of Sanctions with the State Government, recently the
Standing Committee on Transport has suggested: “The Committee is of the view that the existing mechanism of bank of sanctions is causing a visible lack of clarity between the State Government departments concerned and the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, regarding the amount that the State is yet to be awarded. The Committee recommends that the Ministry may look into the issue and come up with suitable guidelines to ensurethat thereis noconfusion among the State Government Departments and the Ministry, regarding the share of funds to be received by the State, in any particular year, after factoring in the Bank of Sanctions.” Roads are bad and inadequate in India. There are 34 km. long roads per 100 sq. km area in India while in Japan 270 km. and in West Germany 167 km.
long roads per 100 sq. km area. India has 11 km highways per one lakh population and 3.32 km. road per thousandpopulation. Sir, 60 percent of villages still are without roads in India which adversely affects our agriculture and rural economy. Therefore, the Government should spend more on the development and construction of roads.
Another major problem is that roads are not maintained and repaired properly in India. Less than 0.1 per cent of the national income is spent on the maintenance of roads in India, while in Japan it is three percent of the national
income. It causes discomfort and quick depreciation of vehicles. India tops the world with 11per cent of global deathsin road accidents withabout 4.5 lakh road crashes per annum, in which 1.5 lakh people die which account for 11 per cent of all road crash deaths, witnessing 53 road crashes every hour; killing one person every four minutes. The total vehicle production till December 2021 is estimated at 2,40,67,787 units, which is not even one per cent growth from thecorresponding number in 2015-16 at 2,40,16,599 units. Two-wheeler sales data of the lowermiddle-class families for April-December, 2021, is just 10 million units which shows that this demand is at a decadal low in the country. The low level of consumption in the economy needs immediate remedy. The new budget calls for a 35 per cent increase in spending, mainly on infrastructure related projects while allocation to roads and bridges dip over -2%. Since 2014-15 to 2020-21, the expenditureagainst the revised budget has been an average of 95 per cent of the allocation. Road engineering and construction are yet to gearup to meet the challenges of the futurelike achieving
the target of expanding the National Highway network by 25,000 km
construction.
