The pathetic condition of many roads in India has been a subject of ridicule for a long time. There is no dearth of viral videos of crumbling and caved-in roads in India, which paint a bleak picture of the construction quality — While some roads are lifted like carpets, others can be dug in with bare fingers. While successive governments have indeed developed transport corridors and improved connectivity in rural areas and tier-2 cities, what is lacking in so many of them is a basic sense of civil engineering.
Check out this 2023 video of a road that folds like a carpet in Maharashtra’s Jalna district built under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY):
You thought our government was bad with stealing money … ???
Local government in India made a fake road (with carpet) to ‘save costs’.
They say to “save cost” is official lingo for pocketed the rest. pic.twitter.com/k9NKIGB8Wz
— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) June 2, 2023
… and this one in UP’s Deoria in 2022:
देवरिया
➡देवरिया में सड़क निर्माण में जमकर भ्रष्टाचार
➡लाखों रुपए की लागत से बनी सड़क उखड़ गई
➡चटाई की तरह उखड़ रही नई बनाई गई सड़क
➡PWD विभाग के अफसरों,ठेकेदारों की मिलीभगत
➡रुद्रपुर क्षेत्र के सवलियागंज एकौना मार्ग का मामला.#Deoria pic.twitter.com/cdApVaOQ74
— भारत समाचार | Bharat Samachar (@bstvlive) December 6, 2022
On top of the horrible road conditions, are dust and soil pollution and lack of adequate drainage that erode streets in the monsoon faster than they are built. One of the most infamous road cave-ins was that of the Bundelkhand expressway in Uttar Pradesh, a section of which crumbled just five days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it.
ये है भाजपा के आधे-अधूरे विकास की गुणवत्ता का नमूना… उधर बुंदेलखंड एक्सप्रेस-वे का बड़े लोगों ने उद्घाटन किया ही था कि इधर एक हफ़्ते में ही इस पर भ्रष्टाचार के बड़े-बड़े गड्ढे निकल आए।
अच्छा हुआ इस पर रनवे नहीं बना। pic.twitter.com/Dcl22VT8zv
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) July 21, 2022
And potholes on roads have become commonplace. While one can observe paved roads in fortresses built several hundred years ago in India standing strong, modern civil construction crumbles within a few weeks.
The problem has again been highlighted, this time by an influencer, who reminded Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari of his 2022 promise of making Indian roads like those in the US. During a speech in 2022, he said that roads in Uttar Pradesh would be equivalent to that in the US by 2024.
#WATCH | I’ve promised (UP CM) Yogi Ji that before the end of 2024, we’ll make the road infrastructure of Uttar Pradesh equivalent to that of the USA: Union Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, at the 81st Annual Session of the Indian Roads Congress, Lucknow (08.10) pic.twitter.com/LxOYdhOA0e
— ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2022
It’s 2025, but road woes continue to plague Indians in UP as well as other states.
In the viral video, influencer Shridhar Mishra lies down on a road in Dubai and shows that there is no dust on his clothes. He even rubs the road and then wipes his face with his hands showing that there is zero soil or dust.
“Look at me. I can lie down and not have a speck of dust on me… Gadkariji, forget America; this is a village in Saudi Arabia and roads are so clean. This road was built by Indian and Pakistani workers. If roads here can be so good, why can’t we do the same in India,” he questioned.
He then goes on to explain how the roads are raised in Saudi Arabia and the ones in India are levelled wit the ground. “This is why this road in the middle of the desert is devoid of dust, but India doesn’t have such a system… I request you with folded hands Gadkariji. Kindly make roads like Saudi Arabia.”
Watch The Video Below:
