Sri Vijaya Puram, Aug. 31: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands entered FY27 with 222 km of rural road works pending under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the Centre’s flagship rural road connectivity programme. More than three months into the financial year, that backlog had fallen by just two kilometres.
As of July 16, only two km of roads had been completed under PMGSY during FY27, leaving 220 km of balance works, according to data placed by the Union Ministry of Rural Development before Parliament. The balance includes works carried forward from previous years.
The pace assumes significance because the Centre has set a target of completing 96 km of rural roads in Andaman and Nicobar during FY27.
The numbers put the spotlight on a wider problem confronting the islands: completing roads already in the pipeline while ensuring that existing roads do not deteriorate faster than they can be repaired.
For FY27, ₹30 crore has been allocated to Andaman and Nicobar under PMGSY. By July 16, ₹7.33 crore had been released as the Centre’s share, while expenditure, including the Union Territory’s share, stood at ₹3.44 crore.
In FY26, the indicative allocation was ₹20 crore. No central funds were released during the year, while expenditure, including the UT share, stood at ₹12.14 crore.
Backlog Persists
The latest numbers are part of a longer road-building effort under PMGSY.
Official data shows that Andaman and Nicobar completed 14 km of PMGSY roads in FY22, 31 km in FY23 and 43 km in FY24.
Over the same three years, the Centre released ₹9.22 crore, ₹12.22 crore and ₹12.22 crore, respectively, while expenditure including the UT share stood at ₹5.45 crore, ₹7.51 crore and ₹22.93 crore.
The Centre has now asked states and Union Territories to accelerate rural road construction and strengthen quality monitoring. Nationally, more than 26,000 km of rural roads have been targeted for completion in FY27.
Against this backdrop, Andaman and Nicobar’s 220-km balance represents a substantial pipeline of unfinished work. The government’s FY27 target of 96 km means the pace of construction will have to accelerate significantly from the two km reported as completed by July 16.
The figures, however, do not establish why individual projects remain pending, and construction can pick up substantially during the remainder of the financial year.
The rural road backlog also needs to be distinguished from the poor condition of roads being reported in parts of Sri Vijaya Puram. PMGSY is a rural road programme, while roads within the capital can fall under different agencies and funding mechanisms.
But for residents, that administrative distinction does little to change the everyday experience of travelling over damaged roads.
Poor stretches and potholes have been reported around locations including G.B. Pant Hospital, Garacharma and Dairy Farm, while concerns have also been raised about roads and infrastructure around the private bus stand, Aberdeen Bazaar bus stand and Bhatu Basti bus stand.
The two sets of roads may be funded and administered separately, but together they raise a broader question over how effectively road infrastructure is being built and maintained across the islands.
Smart City Test
The condition of roads in Sri Vijaya Puram presents a particularly uncomfortable contrast with the capital’s Smart City ambitions.
The idea of a Smart City goes beyond technology, beautification or individual infrastructure projects. At its most basic level, it is supposed to improve mobility, accessibility and the quality of everyday urban life.
Broken and potholed roads undermine that objective.
Public transport, traffic management, pedestrian infrastructure, emergency services and technology-driven mobility systems ultimately depend on a functioning road network. A city can invest in smarter infrastructure, but those investments lose some of their meaning if residents continue to encounter badly damaged roads during their daily commute.
The contrast becomes sharper when poor road conditions are reported around places such as G.B. Pant Hospital and major bus stands, locations where reliable access is particularly important.
Sri Vijaya Puram’s Smart City ambitions, therefore, cannot be separated from something as basic as the quality and durability of its roads.
Andaman and Nicobar does face difficult conditions for road construction. Heavy rainfall, humidity, waterlogging and terrain can accelerate road deterioration.
But these are permanent characteristics of the islands rather than unexpected events. Road design, drainage systems, construction materials and maintenance schedules have to take these conditions into account.
Potholes by themselves do not establish poor workmanship. Determining why a particular stretch has deteriorated requires technical inspection. But where newly constructed or recently repaired roads deteriorate quickly, questions over drainage, materials, workmanship, supervision and quality control are legitimate.
The Centre itself says PMGSY roads are constructed with a design life of at least 10 years, while maintenance and quality monitoring form part of the programme’s framework.
That makes durability as important as construction.
Andaman’s road challenge consequently has two distinct dimensions. The first is completion: 220 km of PMGSY road works remained in the pipeline as of July 16, while the FY27 completion target stands at 96 km.
The second is quality: roads that have already been built or repaired must remain usable for a reasonable period.
After successive allocations and road-building programmes, the question is increasingly shifting from how much money has been sanctioned to what is actually delivered on the ground.
For residents, the test is simpler: how quickly pending roads are completed, how long newly built roads last, and whether a city aspiring to be smart can first get its basic roads right.
