Uttar Pradesh Rural Road Development Agency

Department of Rural Development Government of uttar pradesh

The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is executed by State Government Agencies in accordance with the guidelines of the PMGSY issued by the Ministry of Rural Development. At the State level, every State Government has designated a Nodal Department which has the overall responsibility for implementation in the State. The Nodal Department supervises the work of the Executing Agency. There could be one or more executing agencies in the State and generally the Nodal Department is the Administrative Department of the largest executing agency if there is more than one.

The executing agency has to be a technical agency with requisite experience, expertise, man-power and physical presence in the districts of its operation. In each such district the executing agency operates in the form of a Programme Implementation Unit (PIU) headed by an officer of the rank of Executive Engineer.

The functions of the Nodal Department, Executing Agencies and PIUs are summarised below.

• It is the administrative department of the State Government responsible for implementation of the programme.
• It will communicate the district-wise break up of the annual State allocation for PMGSY to the districts.
• It coordinates with other agencies and departments of the State Government for the smooth execution of the programme, as per guidelines and schedules communicated by the Ministry of Rural Development/NRRDA.
• It is the administrative department for the State Level autonomous Agency (SLA), (generally a registered society), which receives the funds for the programme from the Ministry and which manages the funding for the programme.
• It along with State Level autonomous Agency services the State Level Standing Committee (SLSC) and for this purpose vets the annual road proposals finalised by the District Panchayats.
• The State Nodal Department and State Level Agency consolidate the final proposal based on detailed project reports for submission to the Ministry of Rural Development for consideration of its Empowered Committee.
• The Nodal Department sets up and operates the State Quality Control Mechanism.
• The State Nodal Department liaises with State Technical Agencies for training and technical advice.
• The State Nodal Department will be responsible for ensuring developing of a maintenance policy for PMGSY roads and other Core Network roads and ensuring that adequate maintenance is carried out through the Executing Agencies.
• The State Nodal Department shall set up and coordinate the reporting system for monitoring and evaluation and ensure that all executing agencies adopt a uniform system.
• The State Nodal Department will manage the state level PMGSY website and coordinate the updation of state data into the website.

At SQC level, the following actions shall be taken

• The executing agencies will be professional organisations with sufficient experience and expertise in road construction and adequate presence in districts in order to discharge programme responsibilities.
• The executing agencies shall have a dedicated cell at State Headquarters for control and supervision and dedicated District Programme Implementation Units (DPIU) at district level for executing PMGSY works.
• The executing agency will ensure that all requirements in terms of training of personnel, quality control infrastructure, etc., are adequately met.
• The executing agency shall operate the reporting system for monitoring and evaluation in its area of jurisdiction and shall ensure that the OMMS software is operated satisfactorily in all DPIUs for the purpose.
• The executing agency will develop and implement maintenance programmes for the Core Network roads.

• DPIUs shall prepare the District Rural Roads Plan as per the guidelines issued based on the socio-economic / infrastructure variables selected by the District Panchayat.
• They will develop the Core Network for the District as per the guidelines issued, obtain the approvals of the Panchayati Institutions and send the Core Network to the State level Agency and NRRDA.
• They will assist the District Panchayat in drawing up annual proposals for PMGSY road works, and forward the approved list to the State Level Agency for approval of the State Level Standing Committee.
• They will carry out field investigations and prepare detailed project reports for the approved road works.
• They will forward all relevant information to the State Technical Agency for scrutiny of the detailed project reports and forward scrutinised project reports along with other relevant information to the State Level Agency for transmission of final project proposals to the Ministry of Rural Development.
• They will draw up tender documents, invite bids and award contracts for approved road works as per the Standard Bidding Document adopted by the State Government.
• They will administer the Quality Control Handbook, ensure that the quality control procedures are followed by the Contractors and do independent quality testing as the first tier of quality control.
• They will facilitate quality monitoring by the State Quality Mechanism (SQM) and National Quality Monitors (NQMs) and take action on their reports including rectification of works found defective and administrative action for blacklisting of contractors found to have executed sub-standard works.
• They will enter transactional data on day-to-day basis with regard to clearance of road proposals award of contracts, progress of execution of works, payment to contractors, etc., online or offline into the OMMS software.
• They will ensure operation of the Performance Guarantee in respect of completed PMGSY roads and ensure execution of maintenance programmes.

• The Agency may be a registered society such as the State Rural Roads Development Agency or a Corporation. The Agency has to have a distinct legal status.
• The Agency will be repository of the District Core Networks which are the basis of planning and execution of rural road programmes.
• The State Level Agency will receive funds into its own account from the Ministry of Rural Development / National Rural Roads Development Agency. A separate programme account will be maintained for the purpose in an identified bank.
• The heads of District Programme Implementation Units shall be designated as officers of the Agency and will be empowered to operate upon the bank account to the extent and in circumstances that will be specified by the Agency in keeping with the broad guidelines issued by the Ministry of Rural Development / NRRDA.
• The Agency will be responsible for the accounting of all the funds and of the expenditure therefrom including the expenditure by the various District Programme Implementation Units. It will furnish the utilisation certificate on the prescribed proforma to the Ministry of Rural Development / NRRDA.
• The Agency will act as a extended arm of the Nodal Department for the purpose of consolidating the district-wise final proposals cleared by the State-level Standing Committee and scrutinised by the State Technical Agency for submission to the Ministry of Rural Development for consideration of the Empowered Committee.
• In order to keep a watch over the expenditure, both the pace and appropriateness, the Agency will advice the Nodal Department on the reporting system of physical progress and financial expenditure and shall obtain all necessary reports in order to satisfy itself that the programme funds are being adequately and appropriately applied in the furtherance of the programme.
• It may obtain periodic or special reports with regard to quality monitoring also and may directly or through the Nodal Department advise the executing agencies of steps required to be taken to ensure cost effectiveness of the expenditures being made.
• It shall have the overall responsibility for the audit of the programme funds and shall bring to the notice of the Nodal Department of the State Government as well Ministry of Rural Development / NRRDA of irregularities and other issues pointed out through audit. It shall further coordinate process of taking action on such matters.

• The State level Standing Committee may be headed by the Chief Secretary and include the Secretary of the Nodal Department and such other Departments as are Administrative Departments of Executing Agencies. The Chief Executive of the State level Agency shall also be the Member of the Standing Committee. The Coordinators of the State Technical Agencies of the State and the Principal Technical Agency for the State may be co-opted or specially invited for the meetings.
• The Committee’s main function is to vet the Core Network and the annual road plan proposals. For this purpose it may be serviced by the Nodal Department and the State level Agency. The Committee may also consider policy issues relating to Core Network, training and capacity building, inter-departmental coordination, State specific R&D initiatives, maintenance policy, etc.