Centre asks J-K to pace up inspections of PMGSY works by independent SQMs

SRINAGAR — The Government of India has asked the administration of Jammu & Kashmir to look into why the works being executed under the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) are not being inspected by state quality monitors (SQMs).

A record note of the pre-empowered committee meeting held on December 9, 2021, to discuss proposals of J&K under the ambitious rural road connectivity programme reveals that 89 workers have not been inspected by SQMs even once. “89 works have not been inspected by SQMs even once. Out of these 89 works, payment of more than Rs 10 lakh on 26 works has already been done,” reads the minutes of the meeting, a copy of which is in possession of news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO).

It further states that the UT needs to look into why the works are not getting inspected once. “The pace of SQM inspections is quite slow. UT needs to pay attention to it,” the document further states.

According to the document, against the target of 4573 SQM inspections, 1107 have been carried out. “UT needs to increase the pace of inspections,” it states.

It is worthwhile to mention that PMGSY programme guidelines provide that ensuring the quality of road works is the responsibility of the state/UT governments, who are implementing the programme.

A three-tier quality control mechanism is put in place under the programme. The States & UTs are responsible for the first two tiers of quality control structure. Under the second tier of the structure, periodic inspections are required to be carried out through independent state quality monitors.