BHUBANESWAR: The National Rural Road Development Agency (NRRDA) under the Ministry of Rural Development has requested the State Government to scale up the citizens monitoring of rural roads constructed under PMGSY.
Odisha is one of the seven states to successfully piloted the NRRDA initiative of citizens monitoring of rural road construction under PMGSY. This initiative of the central agency has been nominated for the prestigious South Asia Procurement Innovation Awards 2016-17.
Nine road projects in Balangir and Gajapati districts of the State were taken up under citizens monitoring programme in the phase-II study of the pilot project.
A citizen-friendly quality testing toolkit that was piloted proved user-friendly and effective as a minimal training is required to test the parameters of a road.
Community participation is crucial in bringing transparency and accountability in the rural road sector. NRRDA has initiated several initiatives to empower and involve community in PMGSY roads in their locality in collaboration with International Labour Organisation and NGOs.
While offering all possible help for expansion of the citizens monitoring and audit of PMGSY roads, NRRDA Director General Rajesh Bhusan has requested the State Government to involve the local people and NGOs in a big way to ensure quality and bring in more transparency in the execution of the flagship programme.