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Centre to use AI to monitor rural road conditions
The Centre plans to integrate artificial intelligence into e-MARG, the electronic maintenance system for rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), to enable GPS-enabled dashcam footage for road inspections.…
The Centre plans to integrate artificial intelligence into e-MARG, the electronic maintenance system for rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), to enable GPS-enabled dashcam footage for road inspections. AI will classify road stretches as good, fair, or poor, and assessments will initially run alongside human inspections with official oversight.
Rural development ministry secretary Rohit Kansal said the technology will strengthen transparency, accountability, and life-cycle asset management. The government's focus has shifted from construction to maintenance after completing 800,000 km of rural roads under PMGSY. The scheme has been allocated Rs 19,000 crore for 2026-27, 73% higher than the revised estimate for 2025-26.
Dashcam surveys and machine-based defect recognition will enable more frequent monitoring and improve asset-level data quality. Experts say this will reduce the time between reporting repair work and taking action, and periodic maintenance can boost the rural economy by enhancing market access for agricultural and non-farm products.
Indian Opinion Analysis
The PMGSY, launched in 2000, has built over 800,000 km of rural roads but faced criticism for poor maintenance and rapid deterioration. Shifting from construction to data-driven maintenance aims to cut long-term costs: a road built for Rs 50 lakh can need Rs 10 lakh in repairs every few years if neglected. e-MARG's upgrade to AI-based monitoring could enforce vendor accountability by tying defect reports to maintenance contracts. The real test will be whether the system reduces the maintenance backlog in states with weak local governance. The next signal to watch is the rollout timeline for pilot dashcam surveys across select districts.
Watch for the rollout timeline of pilot dashcam surveys and the first AI-based road condition reports, expected in the next financial year.
Source: livemint.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
