Crucial Reports Not Shared, Rural Roads Plagued By Problems: CAG

Hyderabad: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India in its report for the period 2017 to 2022, has said that Telangana had not been giving credit to the Centre for its share in developing rural roads. It said that the state government should “ensure” such credit is shared with the Centre with respect to roads taken up under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and the funds from this scheme that were dovetailed into the Telangana Rural Roads Development Agency.

In its ‘Compliance Audit-Civil & Commercial’ report from 2017 to 2022, which was placed in the Assembly by the state government on Monday, the CAG also pointed out that several rural roads suffered from poor quality and lack of maintenance, raising questions on the expected lifetime of such roads, and their upkeep.

Rural road connectivity, and its sustained availability, the CAG said, was a key component of rural development as it assured continuing access to economic and social services and thereby generated a sustained increase in agricultural incomes and productive employment opportunities. The CAG also said that, during its audit, it found that several road works were initiated and awarded “without adequate preparatory work and surveys, leading to works remaining incomplete or not commenced due to lack of forest clearance.”

It also took aim at the Panchayat Raj Engineering Department (PRED) which it said did not fulfil several key obligations under the Telangana Rural Roads Maintenance Policy, 2017. The PRED did not prepare Annual Rural Roads Maintenance Plan each year, constitute requisite committees or conduct road user surveys, as mandated in the 2017 state policy.

As in the case with several other departments that were audited, the CAG said that with respect to rural roads too, the government did not provide information sought, or produce the required records. With respect to rural roads, the CAG said records that were not produced included agreements, drawings and designs, measurement books, estimates for the works and Detailed Project Reports as well as Quality Control Reports, among several other required documents.