Get the answer of: What Ails India’s Road Transport Economy?
Road transport is the life-line of any economy. It has grown as a prominent system of transportation of goods and services in the country. India’s road network consists of expressways, National Highways, State Highways, major district roads, other district roads and village roads. The country has an extensive road network of more than 3.3 million km, making it one of the largest in the world. In spite of this, India has a lot of problems in road transport. About 50% of Indian roads are not in good condition. Therefore, transportation on these roads are not possible in all seasons.
As, we know, road transport is of particular advantage to the farmers. Good roads help the farmer to move their product quickly to the mandis and towns. This assumes great importance in the context of green revolution.
In absence of good and melted road, during monsoon season, it is impossible for the villagers to move out of their villages.
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The length of the National Highway and State Highways together account for 194 m, 754 km. Traffic on the roads is growing at the rate of 7-10% per annum while the growth in vehicles has been to the tune of 12% per annum for the past few years. Therefore, the road transport should be expanded and strengthened at a very fast pace not only to cater to the increased volume of traffic, but also to provide improved accessibility to the hinterland. A series of initiatives have been undertaken in recent years to improve the road transport in India.
These initiatives combine new institutional arrangements, highway engineering of international standards found on a self financing revenue model comprising tolls and cess on fuels.
The National Highway Development Project (NHDP), Pradhan Mantri Bharat Jodo Pariyojana (PMBJP) and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), NHDP dealt with high quality highways. PMBJP dealt with linking up major cities to the NHDP highways. The PMGSY for rural roads.