COMMUNITY CONTRACTING INITIATIVES IN THE ROUTINE MAINTENANCE OF RURAL ROADS BY ALL WOMEN SHGS/MMDS IN INDIA (Paper 846)

Different types of community contracting are used for the routine maintenance of the rural roads throughout the world. For the first time, in the state of Uttarakhand of India, a unique model of community contracting has been piloted on Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) roads in which the off-carriageway routine maintenance is carried out by all women Self Help Groups (SHGs)/Mahila Mangal Dals (MMDs) This paper brings out the experience of the pilot project including different aspects of planning and execution which was done on nine PMGSY roads. The paper also highlights the benefits to the community as well as to the road users and road agencies and endorses the feasibility of Community Contracting by all women SHGs/MMDs and encourages the road agencies to scale up the concept.