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The Indian Roads Congress

E-mail: [email protected]/[email protected]

Founded : December 1934

IRC Website: www.irc.org.inJamnagar House, Shahjahan Road,

New Delhi - 110 011

Tel : Secretary General: +91 (11) 2338 6486

Sectt. : (11) 2338 5395, 2338 7140, 2338 4543, 2338 6274

Fax : +91 (11) 2338 1649

Kama Koti Marg, Sector 6, R.K. Puram

New Delhi - 110 022

Tel : Secretary General : +91 (11) 2618 5303

Sectt. : (11) 2618 5273, 2617 1548, 2671 6778,

2618 5315, 2618 5319, Fax : +91 (11) 2618 3669

No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without prior written permission from the Secretary General, IRC.

Edited and Published by Shri Vishnu Shankar Prasad on behalf of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC), New Delhi. The responsibility of the

contents and the opinions expressed in Indian Highways is exclusively of the author/s concerned. IRC and the Editor disclaim responsibility

and liability for any statement or opinion, originality of contents and of any copyright violations by the authors. The opinions expressed in the

papers and contents published in the Indian Highways do not necessarily represent the views of the Editor or IRC.

VOLUME 42 NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2014

CONTENTS ISSN 0376-7256

INDIAN HIGHWAYSA REVIEW OF ROAD AND ROAD TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT

Page

2-3 From the Editors Desk - Lets Avail Roads Economic Powerhouse Potential

4-51 Highlights of 74thAnnual Session of Indian Roads Congress Held at Guwahati (Assam) from 18thto 22ndJanuary, 2014

52 Just Released/Important Announcement

53 Finite Element Analysis of Flexible Pavement with Different Subbase Materials

Abdhesh K. Sinha, Satish Chandra and Praveen Kumar

64 Effect of Waste Plastics Utilization on Indirect Tensile Strength Properties of Semi Dense Bituminous Concrete Mixes

Archana M.R., Sathish H.S., Ashwin M and Hanamant Hunashikatti

74 Construction of Steel Bridge in Lieu of Conventional PSC Girder Bridge Across Tungabhadra River Near Mantralaya on State

Highway SH-13 of Karnataka Connecting Andhra PradeshR. Jaiprasad and Utpal Chakravarty

82 Performance Models for Rural Roads

Atul Bhatore and Mrs. Vandana Tare

89 Laboratory Study on Improvement of Low Quality Aggregates for Construction of Rural Roads

P.K. Jain

99 Amendment to IRC:6-2014

101 Amendment to IRC:24-2010

103 Errata to IRC:24-2010

107 Amendment to IRC:112-2011108 Errata to IRC:112-2011

110 Amendment to IRC:SP:37-2010

110 Errata to IRC:SP:37-2010

111-118 Circular Issued by MORT&H

119-120 IRC Membership Form


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2 INDIAN HIGHWAYS, FEBRUARY 2014

Usually the roads are considered as incidental to the developmental programmes and occasionally as

integral component of overall developmental projects. With the changing time, slowly and steadily

the road sector is gaining importance but still it is not given that economic importance as should

have been. Its tag of basic amenity, public utility, infrastructure sector, etc. may perhaps come

in the way of considering this sector as economic powerhouse. The strategic economic importance

of this sector needs a pragmatic approach to harness its true potential for a durable progress and

inclusive growth of a society and country.

No one may like to doubt that the road infrastructure plays a pivotal role in creating equilibrium in

opportunities as well as improves the scope of competitiveness in global market. Therefore, in the

era of globalization, due attention needs to be given in respect of strategically planned & integrated

investments in the road sector which can help in creation as well as improvement in logistics and

efcient connectivity. Simultaneously precaution may be taken to insulate the investment in the

infrastructure not to have a bearing due to downswing in the economic condition/situation of the

other countries. Absence of such an integrated planning of investment may result in bottlenecks in

channelizing the necessary investment in the road infrastructure thereby choking its growth.

Many a times arguments are forwarded that good roads result into rapid urbanization and the rapid

urbanization allures better opportunities for employment and desire for better standard of livingwhich puts tremendous strain on basic infrastructure especially the road sector. In the event of

delay in meeting the demand pressure, the growth potential gets compromised and this opens up

another opportunity of widening the economic activity i.e. pertaining to infrastructure delivery

system. The deliverance of the road infrastructure has a bearing on the deliverance as well as

success of other sectoral activities. The true potential of a world class airport cannot be achieved if

the road connectivity to the airport is inadequate or inefcient. Similarly the industrial cluster may

not be able to achieve its full productivity potential if the road connectivity to it is inadequate or

inefcient. This is applicable to all other segments of the economy, which only points towards the

need of having a different approach towards road sector now so as to allow it to perform its role of

economic powerhouse.

It is beyond doubt that the road can be considered as growth engine to boost employment, productivity

& balanced growth in a country. The same is visible from the road development activities taken

place in India since last more than a decade. In spite of repeated periods of economic uncertainty,

the resilience in economic growth in such difcult situation witnessed in India is largely because

of spread of economic activities through the roads constructed during last more than a decade.

From the Editors Desk

LETS AVAIL ROADS ECONOMIC POWERHOUSE POTENTIAL


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HIGHLIGHTS OF 74thANNUAL SESSION OF INDIAN ROADS

CONGRESS HELD AT GUWAHATI (ASSAM) FROM

18thTO 22ndJANUARY, 2014

On the invitation of Government of Assam, the74thAnnual Session of Indian Roads Congress (IRC)

was held at Guwahati from 18th January, 2014 to

22nd January, 2014. This mega event is the biggest

road sector meet and was a grand success.

The Session was inaugurated by Shri Sarvey

Sathyanarayana ji, Honble Minister of State for

Road Transport & Highways, Government of India

on the 19th January, 2014. The Inaugural Function

was graced by Smt. Ajanta Neog, Honble Minister

PWD, GDD & Urban Development and Housing,

Govt. of Assam. The Inaugural Function was also

graced by Shri Nilmani Sen Deka, Honble Minister

of Agriculture & Parliamentary Affairs, Govt.

of Assam and Shri Ajit Singh, Honble Minister

of State for Sports & Excise, Govt. of Assam;

Shri Monilal Goala, Parliamentry Secretary PWD,

Govt. of Assam; Shri V.K. Pipersenia, Addl. Chief

Secretary, Govt. of Assam; Shri C. Kandasamy, Director

General (Road Development) & Special Secretary,

MoRTH, Govt. of India & President, Indian Roads

Congress; Shri V.K. Gupta, Director General (Works),

C.P.W.D; Shri Vishnu Shankar Prasad, Secretary

General, Indian Roads Congress; Shri A.C. Bordoloi,

Commissioner & Special Secretary to the Govt. of

Assam, Public Works, Building & NH Department;

Shri P.N. Jain, Past President, IRC;

S/Shri S.B. Vasava, K.K.Y. Mahendrakar,

A. Samuel Ebenezar Jebarajan & Swatantra

Kumar, Vice Presidents IRC; Shri Ashok Basa,

President, Institution of Engineers (India); and

Shri Suryya Kumar Baruah, Local Organising

Secretary of 74th Annual Session of IRC. The

74thAnnual Session was attended by more than 3000

Highway Sector Engineers/Professionals/Researchers

from various facets of this fraternity from all over the

country as well as from abroad also from multilateral

organizations like World Bank, JICA etc.

The following innovative and some new concepts/

programmes were held rst time during the

74thAnnual Session of IRC:

1. Inaugural & Valedictory Function of 74thAnnual Session of IRC and Four Parallel

Technical Sessions were live webcasted through

internet. All these recordings were available

on IRC Website www.irc.org.in. (Please click

http://new.livestream.com/accounts/6786514/

events/2700337).

2. Technical Exhibition-cum-Buyer-Seller Meet;

This being attempted for the rst time in the

highway sector having the provisions of One-

O-One meet between the perspective buyers and

sellers of technology/material/expertise etc. TheTechnical Exhibition-cum-Buyer-Seller Meet

was also made opened to the general public for

the rst time. More than 160 Exhibitors from

India and abroad participated in Technical

Exhibition-cum-Buyer-Seller Meet

3. Presentations by the Inventors & Researchers;

Under this session, presentations were made by

the Inventors & Researchers on new initiatives/

Innovative Works carried out by them for their

replications/adoption by others

4. Presentation by Expert from Japan InternationalCooperation Agency on Mobile Maintenance

Management System.

5. Presentation by Expert from World Bank on

Road Safety Management Strategies.

6. Valedictory Session and Prize distribution

functions presided over by the Chief Minister

of Assam

In addition to the above, the main events during the

Session were:

1. 69th

Meeting of the Highway Research Board;2. 201st& 202ndCouncil Meetings of IRC;

3. Detailed presentations and discussions of the

papers published in Journal of Indian Roads

Congress Volume-73 Part 4 and Volume-74-

Part 1, 2 & 3 published in the year 2013;

4. Presentation and discussions on the Road

Research Work Done in India during the year

2012-2013;


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HIGHLIGHTS OF 74thANNUAL SESSION OF IRC

INDIAN HIGHWAYS, FEBRUARY 2014 5

5. Expert Talk by eminent speakers from India &

abroad;

6. Panel discussion on Asset Management and

Project Management in Road Sector;

7. Technical Presentations by Representatives ofvarious National & International Organizations

on Innovative materials/technologies/

equipment etc.

8. Presentation by Ph.D Scholars/M.Tech and

B.Tech Students of the Educational Institutions

and opportunities for them to mingle with

stalwarts of the highway sector as a step towards

equipping them to become better highway

professional.

9. Presentations by Representatives of Research

Organizations/Laboratories, Consultancy Firmsetc.

10. Meetings of Secretaries, Engineers-in-Chief

and Chief Engineers from Central and State

Govt. Departments.

11. 74th Annual General Body Meeting for

transacting business of the Indian Roads

Congress.

The Council of Indian Roads Congress passed the

resolution which read as:-

"IRC is to consider moving towards the concept of

life cycle cost of the facility, to optimize the existing

land and natural resources, coupled with sustainable

inclusive growth in the road sector. This will include

introduction of cutting edge technology and new

innovation through collaborative research".

Receiving and Welcoming Dignitaries

Shri Oscar Fernandes Ji, Honble Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Govt. of India and Mrs. Fernandes are being welcomed at

the Venue during 74thAnnual Session of IRC

Shri Oscar Fernandes Ji, Honble Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Govt. of India meeting with the participants


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Address by Shri Oscar Fernandes Ji, Honble Minister for Road, Transport & Highways,

Govt. of India during the 74thAnnual Session of IRC

Shri Oscar Fernandes Ji, Honble Minister for Road, Transport & Highways, Govt. of India delivering address

First of all I wish to all of you A Happy & Prosperous

New Year 2014.

It is a matter of great pleasure to be amongst the

galaxy of road sector experts gathered from all overthe country on the occasion of this Meeting under

the aegis of 74thAnnual Session of IRC. As you all

know road infrastructure contributes not only to

the economic growth of the nation but also help in

poverty alleviation and generation of employment. It

is, therefore necessary for the Highway Engineers to

provide world class roads to our Citizens, facilitating

their access to education, health and well-being, within

the context of sustainable & inclusive development.

UPA Government has given a specic thrust to all areas

of infrastructure in the country. It is no more a secret

that the highway sector in the country is witnessing a

signicant increase in activities, in recent years. The

Government has made substantial efforts to tackle

the road and shortcomings of highways sector and

to reform its transportation institutions. Government

is continuously making efforts to create a conducive

environment to channelized the nancing including

private sector as well as from multilateral agencies.

However, with the growing road construction industry,

environmental burdens are not far behind because of

the use of resources, the emission of pollutants andglobal warming, which affect society at large. Roads

have signicant impacts on both nearby communities

and the natural environment. New roads bring

development to previously underdeveloped areas,

sometimes causing signicant effects on sensitive

environments and the lifestyles of indigenous

people. Our UPA Government is committed to an all-

round development of road network in the country.

Strategically, adding lanes to existing highway and

upgrading existing roads in initial phase will reduce

greenhouse gas emissions by easing congestion. This

strategy is paying by reducing the amount of fuel

that vehicles waste in stop-and-go trafc, leading

to lower releases of greenhouse gases from vehicles.

India is soon going to have one of the worlds most

extensive National highway networks through various

phases of the National Highways Development Project

planned by the Government.


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The one area of concern to which I would like to

draw the attention of all the Experts gathered here

is the conservation of the material. There is a need

to save scarce physical resource like aggregates,

sand, earth, cement, bitumen, etc. looking to hugeprogramme of construction of highways in the

country. Construction of roads require huge amount

of soil and a great part of it is drawn from fertile top

soil suitable for agriculture purposes. Here I feel that

we need a convergence of various segregated efforts

under different programmes. To my mind it is not our

department alone which should take up this task but

it requires a concerted & collective efforts from all

the similarly placed organizations and Ministries to

pool their efforts in optimized utilization of resources

and materials. Under UPA government a number of

extensive programme to provide employment to our

people have been initiated like Ministry of Rural

Development where we have launched the programme

of hundred days guaranteed employment in the country

for every household. Their main task is to create water

bodies. Whereas, in another government department

of water resources, we are planning to build 10,000

water bodies, and spending money to create water

bodies. While in the road construction, we are digging

out earth for use in road building. Here I would liketo ask you all as to why we should not utilize the soil

dug for creating water bodies etc. in road building and

conserve our resources. If we make sincere efforts in

this direction, then we will be conserving rather than

spending the money and preserve our resources. So,

my appeal would be that not only at the Central level

but at the level of States also, let us interlink various

departments.

One of our main concerns is to nd money to

maintain the roads. Here I would like to askas to why the road sector authorities are not utilizing

the land in an optimized manner to generate enough

revenue which can cater to the maintenance funding.

One of the way which I would like to point out is that

along the highways we have plenty of land where

we can plant saplings & make them grow into trees.

Somebody had planted a tree & we are eating the

fruits. Why dont we plant trees and leave them there

till they will grow up. After twenty, thirty, forty, fty

years you cut them and use that income for maintaining

the roads. Let us have thinking on these lines in a

constructive manner so that, we not only draw fromnature but we add to the wealth of the nature.

On the other hand, we have problem of the disposal &

storage of industrial waste like fly-ash, copper s lag ,

marble slurry, plastic waste, etc. I am happy to mention

that in November I had released the IRC Guidelines

on Use of Waste Plastic in Construction of Roads.

I understand that IRC is taking a number of pro-

active measures to introduce innovative techniques &

materials in road construction. I take this opportunity

to appeal to all the decision makers of the road sectorpresent here to take forward the good work being

done by the IRC. We should make sincere efforts

in utilizing these waste materials in construction of

roads through complete/partial replacement for sub-

grade, embankment construction to conserve the top

soil suitable for cultivation. Stabilization by use of

chemical, enzymes and modiers should be attempted

to utilize the otherwise unsuitable soil.

Another area which I would like to point out is the need

of not only promoting our research activities but also toencourage and support the researchers & the research

output. It is rare that the organizations come forward

to support and promote the new innovations. We in the

government are generally become too conservative in

approach, thereby contributing towards continuous

backwardness in the system. I understand that in

the past the road sector had witnessed a number of

developments through the results obtained under the

pilot schemes and the research schemes. But the same

have taken a back seat during the last three/four years,

which is creating a total vacuum in introduction of

research based outputs for the betterment of road sector.

I would like to propose that time has come when new

techniques/technology/material should be introduced

in a big way under the concept of Experimental

Pilot Projects, the risk of which is jointly shared by

the government and the private sector. Moreover,

our research based activity should be conducted in


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such a manner that there is proper integration and

inter-linkages between laboratory research and eld

requirements/ implementations. I would like to give

the slogan eld to lab & lab to eld. Here I would

like to request that the road sector agencies should notfeel hesitate in associating and collaborating with the

research institutions/researchers to carry out people

oriented research activities in the road sector.

We are developing roads as a National asset at a huge

cost. These assets need to be preserved qualitatively

through asset management initiatives. I am happy

to note that during the IRC Session, a specic

attention was made on Asset Management & Project

Management in the road sector. My compliments

to all. However, we need to work out appropriate

maintenance strategies keeping in view the availablebudgetary resources and the demand pressure. This

concept is having high relevance, as the road sector

has high level of inuence on the well-being of other

sector of economy. It also opens up opportunity for

usage of new materials, techniques & technologies and

I urge upon all the senior ofcers of the government

present here to develop suitable mechanism in

their own departments for adoption of the best on a

continuous basis. I will also like to suggest that they

should not hesitate in taking the advice & help of IRC

Experts. As a guiding principle I may suggest that the

system should be exible enough for quick adoption

of the same but rigid enough to identify and quantify

the end product result / quality/durability.

Another area which I would like to point out is the

speed with which the execution work should be

accomplished. I would not hesitate to mention that a

large number of road projects are delayed and the delay

is of few years. No economy in the world can bear

the consequences due to the delayed projects without

incurring the loss & damages to the other sector ofeconomy including the social sector. This requires

due diligence in preparation of detailed project report

& here I would like to impress upon the ofces of

my Ministry, NHAI & State PWDs to develop their

capabilities and capacities for preparation of the

correct DPRs. Even though Honble Prime Minster

had announced the preparation of Shelf of Projects

two year back, I nd concept is yet not been given

its due attention. I understand that IRC is preparing

a Manual for Preparation of DPR for Rural Roads

which is being nanced by NRRDA and I would like

to ask my Ministry, NHAI & Stare PWDs to take the

help of IRC in preparation of similar type of Manualfor National Highways & State Highways.

One area which is of concern to all is the road safety.

I would like to ask all of you as to why we should not

develop the roads which are black spot free. To me

it requires a dedicated & sincere effort at all stages

of projects namely, Project Conceptualization, Project

Preparation, Construction, Maintenance & Operation.

This also requires continuous skill building at all

levels as well as exposure of our ofcers at all levels

to the best practices being practiced in India & abroad.I would like to ask DG (RD) to pay due attention to

this aspect and come out with draft norms at an early

date.

Continuing with the road safety, another aspect is

the road safety audit. I am happy to learn that Indian

Roads Congress is taking pro-active measures in

association with the World Bank who have agreed to

take forward the action for creation of pool of road

safety auditors which is being nanced by the Global

Road Safety Fund. My compliment to IRC for thisand I appeal to all the road sector agencies of Central

& State government to get associated with IRC in

getting maximum benets out of this programme. As

all of you are aware, UPA government has launched

the rst ever cashless treatment of road sector victims

on Delhi-Jaipur National Highways but it requires to

be expanded to other parts of the country for which I

would like to seek support of all the State government

and the road sector agencies. I may ask DG (RD) to

write to all the State governments for the same.In the end, I would like to express my satisfaction

in sharing my few thoughts and I hope that moving

together we will be able to provide best roads to

our people. I would like to hear the constructive

suggestions from all of you to move forward on the

path of growth & prosperity.

Jai Hind


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Address by Shri Tarun Gogoi Ji, Honble Chief Minister of Assam during the 74 thAnnual Session of IRC

Shri Tarun Gogoi Ji, Honble Chief Minister of Assam delivering address

I am really very happy to grace this valedictory function.

The conference has been very successful. I am very happy

and what has impressed me most is that we have been

talking about the latest technology and talking about the

materials. These days, we are facing a lot of competition,

not only competition but ecological imbalance and global

warming also. So, in this situation, we have to go forthem so that this economic development and anything

is a sustainable development. It is not a fact that our

natural resources are receding to the level that we de-

utilize our natural resources. But sometime, we have to

see that over-exploitation will also harm our ecological

balance and this is a reason today that the whole world

is facing the problem of global warming. You see that

climate change also affect the roads. So we have to build

roads, communication, everything in such a way that

it will maintain ecologically balanced and at the same

time, we must use natural resources judiciously. Today isa scientic world, new technology have been developed.

And I am very happy that Indian Roads Congress has

taken a lot of interest, doing lot of research, but we

have to consider more and more researches so that we

can also develop our own new technologies. Normally,

we are still depending on technologies coming from the

outside, whether it is Germany, France or any others

country. So we have to go our own ways, how can we

develop our own technologies also. So it is just possible

for our Indian scientists. We have to do a lot of more

researches. In fact, in eld of research, in every eld, I am

not talking about the roads, even in the medical science,

we are far behind in the research made and the result of

which sometimes, you see, we have to bear unnecessary

cost also. Even in medical science, they are giving lotof emphasis on Allopathy. Whereas in China, they are

giving lot of emphasis on the traditional medicines.

Here we also see that the traditional methods are also

given due attention. Now we have to do lot of research.

Thousands kilometers of roads have been built. Yes, we

have to change with the changes in time also. We do not

have to just copy the pattern of any other country. Today

in a global scenario, we need also their technology and

our technologies. Denitely, roads play a very important

role for integration of the country, bringing people to

people together. We have been talking about inclusivegrowth. Yes it is the roads which will make inclusive

growth possible. How their rural economy will grow,

it is only through roads. So I have seen in Assam also

from the very beginning, we gave importance to the

roads. The Communication, the bridges, yes today in

the whole world, how it has become a global village

because of connectivity. May be your roads, may be

your sea, may be your air, may be your railways also.


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This is the only way, the way of connectivity. Whenever

we construct roads, your village and farmer gets a

better price, whether sheries, whether dairies, they can

bring the product to the market because of better roads/

connectivity. The communication plays a very importantrole, the main infrastructure of any development of any

country. I have facilities all around, you see, normally,

the roads dont get so much importance. According to

me the rst infrastructure for development is the roads.

Yes road means connectivity, thereafter railway, even

the waterways and subsequently we have airways also.

But the road is the best way, waterways also is a direct

way. So I am very happy that we have gathered here, the

response has been very encouraging. There are 2900

delegates coming to state of Assam from far away areas

like Jammu & Kashmir, Kanyakumari, Gujarat, Kerala

and from so many other places. It is just one corner, but

also we are not just today in a corner, we are also in a

main stream. You see, we are not only talking about

India today but we are also talking about the South East

Asia. So that you can play a very important role in this

region and it is possible also. Even the Govt. of India has

been talking about the look east policies, so this region

has a great potential in the roads and other development

activities. Yes, per capita roads is still less in North-East,

it is the fact that as a result of which it is lagging behind.

In fact yesterday, there was a conference on infrastructure

with the Prime Minister. I was talking about reasons forthe lack of connectivity and why this region is behind

in many respects. Now Govt. of India has given lot of

schemes for better connectivity and today we have to go

in a very big way by addressing the local conditions,

local weather, local material also. So the more emphasis

is on how to utilize our local material and the weather

conditions, as the working season here is very less. Even

in the whole of 12 months how we can go, this is my

concern. So the lot of works have been affected due to

our weather changes, long rainy season, etc. Our job

is to have new technology. It is there today, we mustdevelop technology that whether in the rains or to say, in

all weathers the work can continue.

Today I have seen lot of exhibits, lot of new machinery

also. I have been worrying over the fact for the last few

years regarding use of lot of stones in the construction of

road building affecting the ecology; how much queries

are available and how much it will affect our ecological

balance. Today I have seen in the exhibition that they

have developed new materials to make strong, effective

and also durable roads. All the machinery shown therein

is needed here also for the road construction. The better

roads built, with the new material and machinery

exhibited here in the exhibition, should also incorporateall the road safety measures otherwise accidents may

occur very often. We should not forget the fact that the

roads are meant for all category of road users including

pedestrian and slow moving trafc like bullock carts,

rickshaws, etc. and the safety of the general public at

large remains the major concern. The other major concern

is the drainage problem. Sometimes we are constructing

more roads and in the process we are blocking the water

ow also which ultimately destroy the roads. I have

seen in Assam also that how the concrete bridge is just

destroyed /washed away in the fury of oods. What I mean

to convey is that the judicious planning of embankment

in road construction plays a very crucial role otherwise

there could be a catastrophe disastrous. So these are the

very important issues. However, it varies from state to

state. For example, Meghalaya does not require it, may

be Mizoram and in case of Assam we need it also. So it

varies from state to state may be what is applicable in

U.P. or Karnataka, it does not apply here also. I am very

happy that Indian Roads Congress has been taking lot

of emphasis and they are taking lot of emphasis for the

communication development of the whole of the North-

East. The Prime Minister himself took lot of interestsin the infrastructure development in last few years and

denitely I have also seen construction of roads and

bridges in my own state covering miles and miles of

stretches. But still in the North East region we are far

away. Again we have to see about the maintenance

also. If you dont able to maintain it, then it will be

very costly affair to have it otherwise. Again, you build

roads if you dont maintain then it will create much more

problems instead. So, it will completely again slow down

the progress.

The good thing is that you have involved your students,

your Ph.D research scholars; I do feel the research you

do with more and more research institute. We have also

help to establish research Centre, regional Centre here

also so that our boys and girls can do lot of research

work also. In the world context, in Indian context and

the local context also, you can involve lot of people,

lot of youngsters who are quite innovative and we

need innovation also. Good thing, you already had lot


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of technical discussions & deliberations which would

prompt India to move ahead.

I am very happy that the conference has been very

successful and I must thank the Minister PWD. She is

a lady, a quiet lady. She just proved that how the ladycan be capable and effective. There are very few PWD

ladies Minister in the whole country, may be in the whole

history of India since independence, you may count on

ngers. It is known that PWD is normally not for a ladys

job but we have proved that a lady can perform and that

to better than a man. Then all the staff, with Bordoloi,

Pipersenia, the parliamentary Secretary, everybody have

seen they worked in a very team spirit. The team spirit

is very important. It is a team spirit and that is a quality

of a great leader, quality of leadership to inspire people,

involve people and that is the way you can develop.

Otherwise no individual can succeed, however one may be

powerful, howsoever he may be capable. It is all people,

everybody from top to the bottom, inspire them, give

them condence. So that everybody will work with full

dedication, anybody can be successful and today I have

seen the same dedication in the Indian Roads Congress.

Our ofcers, almost all the engineers, today I have seen

the changes in the outlook of our younger generation, as

a whole. They want to move faster. So everybody wantsto move faster, whether is on a road, whether is in air

whether in the water. So in the faster world, we also have

to move faster. India is moving faster. I must thank all

of you that you have come here all the way. I have been

told by the PWD Minister that some of you have come

with wife& children, so you can see the beautiful places

here, see the beauty of our hills, our rivers, people, nice

people here. Our roads also are as good as our people

and I hope with your full cooperation, Indian Roads

Congress joining hands together to make whole of the

North-East as one of the best place, so that we can attract

more people. With these words, I wish you all the best,

hope in future also better attempt we made, so that the

future of India is bright. With these words I thank all of

you. Jai Hind.

Address by Shri Sarvey Sathyanarayana Ji, Honble Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways,

Govt. of India during the 74thAnnual Session of IRC

I feel privileged to be here today amongst the

dignitaries of Road sector on the occasion of Inaugural

function of the 74thAnnual Session of Indian Roads

Congress in Guwahati. The city said to be the

legendary Pragjyotishpur-City of Eastern Light is

straddling on the banks of Brahmaputra and is the

most thriving metropolis of North East India. The

city is proud to have its rich ancient connections as

scripted in Kalika Purana and other ancient literatures

and presently it is termed as gate-way of North East

India and is emerging as a great hub of commercial

activities, academic institutions & cultural center.

I sincerely thank the Government of Assam for hostingthis important event and providing opportunity to

highway sector fraternity, who have gathered here

from all over the country and abroad, to deliberate

upon various technical issues pertaining to road

sector.

It is my proud privilege to be in the inaugural function

of IRC Council for the third time in a row, which I am

told is an unprecedented so far. I take this opportunity

to share my views on the UPAs Government

initiatives regarding infrastructure development

across the country. On this occasion I would like to

share my heartfelt perception also on the untiring

efforts & remarkable contribution of IRC in highway

development in the country.

Indian Roads Congress is a pivotal organization which

provides a common platform for pooling of wisdom

of highway engineers and practitioners from all over

the country which is being used in the development

of Standards, Specications, Code of Practices,

Guidelines, research based State of art Reports, etc.on various aspects of road and bridges. IRC is working

tirelessly to incorporate the latest and best industry

practices in these Codes and has achieved many

milestones in this endeavor. Notably, IRC has done a

commendable job in ensuring common benchmark by

publishing Standards in road construction for ensuring

uniformity all over the country. The latest feather in its


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cap is the Manual of Specications and Standards for

Expressways, which has been prepared in the record

time of nine months.

The IRC has also kept its knowledge base broad and

updated to International Standards. These Standards areof great help in planning, designing, implementation of

road construction and maintenance programmes both

on National Highways as well as for other categories

of Roads. It is on the strength of the IRC documents

that country could dream of massive initiatives of the

government, namely National Highways development

Program (NHDP), and PMGSY scheme for rural

roads.

I feel proud to state that during the UPA regime, the

infrastructure sector has received a huge face-liftwith improvement in road and railway networks,

power generation and teledensity, among others.

The UPA Government has expedited and cleared

293 large projects involving investment of Rs.5.7

lakh crore in the year 2013 alone. There has been a

phenomenal improvement in road sector during the

UPA tenure. During this period, the Central Govt. has

been instrumental in building/upgrading 17,394 km of

National Highways. More than 2 lakh km of new roads

have been added to rural road network under PMGSY

Scheme. The investment in rural roads has seen 10-

fold rise during the period of UPA governance, which

has facilitated small farmers to carry their produce to

market ensuring improved returns. In the last scal

alone, huge investment has been made to build &

upgrade 21,000 km of all-weather roads. Likewise,

Railway network too got the big boost in the UPA

regime and the work has also begun on the Western

and Eastern Dedicated Freight corridors in order to

modernize the railway network and take it to a new

level.

The UPAs Government commitment towards

improvement of infrastructure and other developmental

policies have yielded good dividends. The average

GDP growth during the period of UPA government had

been about 7.0 percent despite two global slowdowns.

Per capita income has also grown three fold. I feel

pride to inform that growth rate in north-eastern is

higher than national average. Northeast growth rate

is 9.9 percent as compared to national average 7.4

percent. This could have been possible only due to

Shri Sarvey Sathyanarayana Ji, Honble Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways, Govt. of India delivering Address


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UPAs multi-pronged strategies towards development

of North-east including improvement of internal

security, as a whole.

Road infrastructure contributes not only to the economic

growth of the nation and helps in poverty alleviation

and generation of employment. It is necessary that

all of us join hands with the Highway Engineers to

provide world class roads to our Citizens, thereby

facilitating safe and efcient access to education,

health and well-being, within the context of inclusive

and sustainable development. As mentioned earlier,

the UPA Government under the overall guidance of

Smt. Sonia ji, has given a specal thrust to all areas

of infrastructure in the country. It is no more a secret

that the highway sector in the country is witnessing asignicant increase in activities in recent years. The

Government has made substantial efforts to tackle the

constraints being faced by the road sector and through

continuous reform measures. The government has

set up Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI)

and Project Monitoring Group (PMG) in order to

fast track stalled projects. Apart from government-

nanced construction activities, there is now a policy

to encourage private-sector nancing in roads through

Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. In addition,

the World Bank, ADB and other multi-lateral agencies

are also nancing the Indian road sector. But, with the

growing road construction industry, environmental

burdens are not far behind because of the use of

resources, the emission of pollutants and global

warming, which affect society at large. Roads have

signicant impacts on both nearby communities and the

natural environment. New roads bring development to

previously under developed areas, sometimes causing

signicant effects on sensitive environments and the

lifestyles of indigenous people. I am happy to notethat the IRC has recently brought out new guidelines

to conserve natural resources and on green technology

including use of plastic waste in road construction.

Today, in the context of large investments in the

road transport sector, the Indian Roads Congress

has assumed a much greater signicance than ever

before. The Indian Roads Congress, therefore, has an

uphill task to come up to the expectations in evolving

more standards for innovative environment friendly

materials and processes in planning, design, operation,

construction and maintenance of roads and bridges in

the country. It is heartening to note that that to this endthe Indian Roads congress is promoting new materials

and techniques for use on our roads. I have been told

that these new materials and techniques are being

accredited, based on the research carried out in our

county and other foreign countries.

As you all know that our UPA Government is

committed to an all-round development of road

network in the country. Strategically, adding lanes

to existing highway and upgrading existing roads in

initial phase will reduce greenhouse gas emissions byeasing congestion. This strategy is paying by reducing

the amount of fuel that vehicles waste in stop-and-go

trafc, leading to lower releases of greenhouse gases

from vehicles. India is soon going to have one of the

worlds most extensive National highway networks

through various phases of the National Highways

Development Project, SARDP-NE and PMGSY

programme planned by the Government. With the

improvement in road conditions, the users are also

willing to pay for user fees (Toll), which is augmenting

the nancial resources. The issue of setting up a

regulatory body is under active consideration of the

government, which will boost more investment in the

road sector. The UPA Government under the inspiring

leadership and guidance of Madame Sonia Gandhi Ji,

and Rahul Gandhi Ji, dynamic and energetic Honble

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh Ji and Shri

Oscar Fernandes Ji, Honble Union Minister of Road

Transport & Highways has been taking necessary

steps to address and resolve all important issue of the

road sector.

I now touch upon some of the major issues confronting

the roads sector in our country. They are a source of

great concern to us and I would like you to seriously

deliberate upon them during the course of this 74th

Annual Session and come out with some concrete

recommendations. Maintenance and rehabilitation

is one of the important areas for which availability


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of funds is not adequate as compared to the demand.

We are developing roads as National asset at a huge

cost. These assets need to be preserved qualitatively

through asset management initiatives. We need to

work out appropriate maintenance strategies keepingin view the available budget and the required demand.

The Indian Roads Congress should pay attention to

this emerging concept of Asset Management and come

up with guidelines ensuring well-kept roads at an

optimized maintenance cost. I would like to mention

that appropriate maintenance strategies preserve the

national assets and road infrastructure is one of the

most valuable National Assets. I am happy to note

that during this Annual Session, a Panel Discussion

has been kept specically for Assets Management.

I would be eagerly looking for the recommendations

emerging out of the same.

The problem of over loading of vehicles is another

serious issue crippling the highways in the country. The

over-loaded axle of the trucks and category of heavy

vehicles cause severe damages to the roads and are

safety hazards. I urge upon all the Technocrats present

in this August Gathering to deliberate on this issue and

come out with concrete action plan to overcome this

menace. Besides the aforesaid issues, I also think that

provisions of proper and adequate wayside amenities,

pedestrians facilities, facilities for school children &

disabled peoples, proper & detailed DPR preparation,

road safety features, environmental and health safety

hazards, regular training to engineers, skilled and

unskilled personnel, capacity augmentation, etc.,

should also form an integral party of the designing

and construction process of road development works.

The one area of concern to which I would like to draw

the attention of all the Experts is the conservation of

the material. There is a need to save scarce physical

resource like aggregates, sand, earth, cement, bitumen,

etc. considering huge programme of construction of

highways in the country. Construction of road requires

large amounts of soil and a great part of it is drawn

from fertile top soil suitable for agriculture purposes.

On the other hand, we have problem of the disposal &

storage of industrial waste like y-ash, copper slag,

marble slurry, etc. We should make sincere efforts

in utilizing these waste materials in construction of

roads through complete/partial replacement for sub-

grade, embankment construction to conserve the top

soil suitable for cultivation. Stabilization by use ofchemical, enzymes and modiers should be attempted

to utilize the otherwise unsuitable soil. Our research

based activities should be conducted in such a manner

that there is a proper integration and inter-linkages

between laboratory research and eld requirements/

implementations. Our Honble Minister for Road

Transport & Highways, Shri Oscar Fernandes Ji has

given the slogan eld to lab & lab to eld which

should be practiced and even our private entrepreneurs

should not hesitate in associating and collaborating

with the Government Institutions to carry out people

oriented research activities in the road sector. Here, I

may like to mention that IRC has taken a very proactive

step of involving researchers and college students to

move forward in providing necessary bridge between

lab and the eld.

Another very important issue to which I would like

to draw the attention of Experts is the road safety.

During the year 2011, there were around 5 lakh road

accidents resulting in the deaths of over 1.42 lakh

people. Each day, nearly 390 people die on our roads.

In India more than half of road accident victims are

in the age group 20-65 years, the key wage earning

and child raising age group. The loss of the main

bread earner and head of household due to death or

disability can be catastrophic, leading to lower living

standards and poverty, in addition to the human cost

of bereavement. This is an unacceptable price to pay

for mobility. It is imperative that the Government

reaches out to the people to spread the message

of road safety. Education and awareness will go along way to bring about a change in the attitude and

behavior of our people. There is a need to address the

issue of road safety through not only multi- pronged

strategy but also through innovative approach. I am

told that World Bank have taken special interest and

initiatives to associate with IRC in road safety areas

and discussions are underway for associating the


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experts of World Bank and IRC in formulating new

guidelines/Code of Practices. Also, a programme is

being worked out in consultation with the World Bank

to create a pool of road safety auditors on Pan India

basis. This will go a long way in achieving the aimof reducing the road accidents to 50 percent from the

current level by the year 2020.

Recently my Ministry also took a landmark initiative to

save lives of accident victims by providing prompt and

appropriate medical care during Golden Hour, and

thereby reduce fatalities in road accidents. A Toll free

No.1033 has been started for reporting of accidents.

A 24x7x365 Call Centre has been set up to receive

reports of accidents, deploy nearest ambulance and

alert local police authorities, hospital and Road Safety

Volunteers. Six Advance Life Support and ve BasicLive Support Ambulances tted with GPS device have

been deployed to transport accident victims to the

nearest hospital. 61 local youth nominated by Nehru

Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) have been enrolled as

Road Safety Volunteers to provide rst Aid to accident

victims, assist in their shifting to hospital and monitor

treatment. The Road Safety Volunteers were trained

in rst aid by All India Institute of Medical Sciences

(AIIMS). 44 private hospitals have been empaneled to

provide treatment at CGHS/AIIMS rates. In addition,

there are seven Government hospitals located on thestretch. Cashless treatment for rst 48 hours within

overall ceiling of Rs.30,000/- will be provided if the

accident victim is admitted in a private empaneled

hospital. Ministry has recently launched this cashless

scheme as a pilot project on Delhi-Jaipur Highway

to encourage road safety and for the convenience

of the general public. After successful launch of

the pilot project, a few more pilot projects on other

NH stretches are being considered by our Ministry.

Data from the Pilot Project(s) would be used for

formulating a pan-India scheme for cashless treatmentof road accident victims. Ministry of Heavy Industry

and Public Enterprises has also sanctioned a project

for crash investigation of serious accidents through

NATRIP and IIT, Delhi, for which they have allocated

funds from auto cess fund.

I am happy to learn that under new initiatives of IRC,

two Pan India Programmes are being planned one

for creating pool of Road Safety Auditors and other

being involving young school children under road

safety programme, which I am told will be reaching

to every household in the country. I send my heartfelt

compliments to IRC for the same.

In the end, I would like to stress that Proper

implementation of various road projects is the most

important aspect. This require higher professional

ethics and commitment to ensure that roads

constructed at such high cost are long lasting and

do not deteriorate prematurely. These are National

assets and they should be managed like other assets

so that we get good quality roads and they need to

be maintained efciently with proper strategy and

planning. We should consider proactive approach

in maintenance instead of attending to very badlydamaged roads, by way of crisis management, as is

the case so far. I, on this occasion, make an earnest

appeal to the entire highway engineers gathered here,

including representatives of contractors, consultants,

concessionaires, engineers from State PWDs and other

departments to take a pledge in not compromising on

the quality of construction besides completing the

road projects without time & cost over-run. Such a

commitment will go a long way in providing durable

roads, conserving scarce material like aggregates,

sand and earth requiring minimum maintenance.

I am sure that the deliberations during this Annual

Session would be quite useful for the highway

profession and they will enrich knowledge regarding

road construction & maintenance techniques without

compromising quality, durability, serviceability, safety,

health and environmental aspect. It will guide the

Government in deciding the future road infrastructure

needs of the country. I am happy to learn that IRC is

getting associated with the multilateral agencies like

World Bank, ADB, PIARC, Japan Road association,etc. to achieve these objectives as well as bring out the

Guidelines, Standards and Specication comparable

to international standards.

With these words, I once again extend my heartiest

congratulations to the organizers and wish a grand

success for this Annual Session of IRC.

Thank You very much and Jai Hind.


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Address by Smt. Ajanta Neog Ji, Honble Minister PWD, GDD & Urban Development and Housing,

Govt. of Assam, during the 74thAnnual Session of IRC

Smt. Ajanta Neog Ji, Honble Minister PWD, GDD & Urban Development and Housing, Govt. of Assam delivering address.

It is a pleasure for the govt. of Assam to hold this

74th Annual Session of the Indian Roads Congress

at Guwahati. This gathering of eminent highway

engineers of the country and abroad with outstanding

technical ability and experience will give us anopportunity to deliberate and exchange opinions to

address the challenges to road construction and allied

issues. Good road network is a key for development

in all other sectors like agriculture, tourism, education,

health etc. A sound, integrated road network will

pave the way for all round development, integration

of people and the activities associated with upliftment

of people and the country as a whole. In particular

reference to the geographical location and the terrain

conditions of the North Eastern region, the peopleof all the North Eastern States largely dependent

on the road connectivity. Assam being located

centrally, the development of all North Eastern states

largely depend on the road network of Assam. Our

Honble Chief Minister Shri Tarun Gogoi Ji, under

his leadership, the state has given emphasis on the

integrated development of the highways in our state.

Assam has nearly 3000 km of National Highways,

3000 km of State Highways along with more than

3000 km of rural and other roads but still we have

some major missing links which have been identied

as major bottlenecks to uniform pace of developmentwithin the state. I would like to draw attention of

Indian Road Congress to impress upon the Ministry

to look into the integrated road development and

formulate necessary policies for expeditious evolution

of the road projects. I would also like to emphasize

the experts in road construction assembled here to

give attention towards the specic difculties and

challenges for construction of road infrastructures in

this remote area of the country. Emphasis should also

be given for more use of indigenous materials and useof technology suitable for this region. Due to prolong

monsoon, high rainfall, associated perennial oods

makes the working sessions in this region limited to

hardly 5 to 6 months in a year, therefore the projects

in North Eastern state, especially in my state should

be cleared before the month of August, so that the

limited working session can be effectively utilized.


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I hope the over concerns will be widely discussed

and deliberated in the Council meetings of the Indian

Roads Congress. I urge upon all the engineers present

here to reap the benet of the Annual Session of the

Indian Roads Congress at Guwahati as this is a goodopportunity for them to exchange their views and

observations and enhance their technical capacities.

I also request all the local contracting agencies to use

this opportunity for their capacity building and make

interactions with experts of the companies who have

taken part in the technical exhibition of the session,

I wish all the dignitaries, distinguish delegates and

invitees, all IRC ofcials, members participating in

technical exhibition in the 74thsession of the IRC for

their pleasant stay in this historic city of Guwahati,I wish all success of the 74thAnnual Session of the

Indian Road Congress at Guwahati. With these words

I conclude my speech.

Thank you, Jai Hind.

Address by Shri Monilal Goala, Parliamentry

Secretary PWD, Govt. of Assam, during the

74thAnnual Session of IRC

Shri Monilal Goala, Parliamentry Secretary PWD, Govt. ofAssam delivering address

It is indeed a proud privilege for me to have welcome

address to you all here at Guwahati. As already known

to all, Guwahati is a gateway for other six states hence

you can understand its importance, it is historically

known from age of Mahabharata also. IRC was setup

in 1937, its main objective was to construct road,

maintain it and to explore methods for better road

concepts and since then, IRC has been doing its job

perfectly well. This is the 74th Session that you are

attending here in Guwahati. You know India is a large

country, its climate, its weather varies from place toplace, its soil varies from place to place, in Assam

only we get 4 to 5 months to work other periods there

remains rain and rain, so the work can not be continued

at times. We should consider that point and evolve

such methods that can sustained here. This is also

seismic region as already told by our Commissioner

Bordoloi Ji. It should also be taken into consideration.

Roads and bridges are to be constructed in such way

which can withstand in all the situations. Integrated

road development is essential. It is already in progress

but still many more villages are there to be connected,

you see how all these villages under PMGSY or by

any other road can be connected. Honble Minister

Shri Satyanarayana Ji is here, I would like to invite

his attention to alternative Highway which is coming

from Silchar of Kachar district to Bajai via Dispur.

At present we have to cross through Meghalaya here.

Due to our internal disturbances many a time roads

remain closed. The condition of road is not good at all

so people of Barak Valley, people of Tripura, people

of Manipur, people of other states have to face many

difculties, so I would request you to kindly look

into the matter. Honble PWD Minister had already

submitted DPR to your department Sir it is now upto

you to grant us approval. As Honble Minister is

bound to go back to Delhi by 6.50 ight, I would not

like to take more time but one thing what I understand

is that if bureaucrats, technocrats and politicians, put

their head together many more things can be done.Here sir, I am proud to say that our Minister PWD is

a very sturdy lady, she runs so many departments and

she has organized the departments in such a way that

bureaucrats, politicians, technocrats without conicts,

without clash are doing their jobs, so I hope if the

central government already they are cooperating,

also cooperate more effectively, I think Assam will


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have a long march. Sir, here the dignitaries and other

invitees probably have faced many difculties during

last few days, I request them forget all these things,

rather explore ways and means for the betterment of

roads and with these few words I again thank you alland conclude my speech.

Thank You, Jai Hind.

Address by Shri C. Kandasamy, Director

General (Road Development) & Special

Secretary, MoRTH, Govt. of India &

President, Indian Roads Congress during the


Shri C Kandasamy, President IRC and DG(RD)&SS, MoRTH

Delivering Presidential Address

It is a matter of great honour and privilege for me to

welcome you all on behalf of myself and on behalf of

President of IRC on the occasion of the inauguration

of the 74thAnnual Session of IRC. On behalf of entire

fraternity of IRC, I feel honoured to welcome Honble

Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways,

Shri Sarvey Sathyanarayana Ji who had agreed to

spare his valuable time to be amongst us today and

bless the event. Sir we are indeed very grateful to

you. I also take this opportunity to welcome Honble

Minister for Rural Development, Shri Jairam Ramesh

ji. for sparing his valuable time to grace this occasion.

I also extend my hearty welcome to Honble Chief

Minister of Assam Shri Tarun Gogoi ji for his valuable

presence at this occasion and showing keen interest in

the activities of this august organisation, despite his

busy schedule. I also express my sincere thanks to

Honble Minister, PWD &GDD Urban development

& Housing, Assam, Smt Ajanta Neog ji and Honble

Minister of State for Sports and Excise, Assam, Shri

Ajit Singh ji for their kind presence on this occasion.

I am, indeed, indebted to Shri Monilal Goala ji,Parliamentary Secretary to be amongst us and I also

offer my sincere thanks to Shri Jitesh Khosla, Chief

Secretary, Assam for extending the support to this gala

event of IRC. I also take this opportunity to welcome

Shri Vishnu Shankar Prasad, Secretary General, IRC

and other distinguished dignitaries on the Dais. I

welcome all the learned Council Members, delegates,

invitees and guests on this occasion.

As you all know very well that Indian Roads Congress

is instrumental in bringing uniformity in planning,design, construction, maintenance and operation of

all categories of roads and road infrastructure in the

Country. During its journey spread over 79 years

(since 1934), the role and responsibilities of IRC

have increased manifold. I am happy to mention

that IRC has stood all demands and pressures and

with each passing day it is striving to achieve higher

levels of excellence. I am pleased to announce that

IRC has achieved unprecedented feat by publishing

as many as 17 documents in a single year, which is

unparalleled in the history of IRC. This is also due

to the greater faith reposed by road owning agencies,

and the government organizations including Planning

Commission, Ministry of Rural Development and

Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. All kudos

and praises to the various Technical committees of IRC

and IRC secretariat for their untiring and continuing

efforts. Even during this annual session also, six

numbers of documents will be released including the

Specications for Rural Roads (First Revision).

You will recall that during the 73rdAnnual Session of

IRC held at Coimbatore in January 2013, IRC Council

had adopted a Resolution which lays emphasis on

inclusive and sustainable growth in the country. I take

this opportunity to read out the Resolution, which is

being followed as guiding principle in framing the

Codes of Practices, Guidelines, Manuals, by IRC

Technical Committees:-


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Roads should be considered as active infrastructure

facility for people, for safety and services, besides

a catalyst in development of economy in place of

passive approach of exclusivity. The IRC will evolve

itself through synchronization and synergizationwith other sectors of the economy based on

interdependent model, wherein the need of the safety

of all stakeholders of highway sector is fullled

through inclusive approach. Accordingly, the IRC

is to adopt multi-modal transport concept while

developing guidelines and codal practices

Since the last annual session of the Council, IRC have

made many more strides in spreading its reach. I am

happy to mention that the student fraternity is being

associated by IRC, and in this direction a national eventTransport Infrastructure Congress & Expo-2013 was

organized at MNIT Jaipur as a collaborative endeavor

with the educational institutions. Students from 25

engineering colleges and universities from various

States had participated and showcased their talent and

capabilities through working models and posters on

real life issues in the road and road transport sector. I

am told that the event was very successful and MNIT

Jaipur has planned to organize it on an annual basis.

The IRC is also collaborating with research institutionsat regional level, with intent to pool experience and

expertise to provide various optimal solutions, to

address road infrastructure related issues. In this

series, a Workshop-cum-Seminar was organized in

collaboration with Highway Research Station (HRS),

Chennai on 26th April, 2013 on the topic Possible

Solutions in the City Transport System, including

Pedestrian Segregation and Automated Parking

Facilities. Again in the month of June, a Workshop

was organized on road safety in HRS, Chennai along

with opening of Regional sale counter of IRC. Similar

actions have been initiated to open new sales counter

in the States of Manipur and Mizoram. IRC has also

organized the rst Regional Workshop at Bangalore

in the month of October 2013, in association with the

Govt. of Karnataka, which was attended by more than

500 participants from the states of Karnataka, Kerala,

Goa and Maharashtra.

Roads help in socio-economic upliftment of the rural

population, besides providing national integration.

Roads are vital for hilly regions, as these provide

the only means of accessibility and communication.

Roads have special signicance for the North-Easternpart of our country, as several areas of the region do

not have adequate connectivity and railway links

cannot reach every nook and corner of the region.

Planning, design, construction and maintenance of

hill roads require special attention, especially in view

of the environmental sensitivity and in preserving the

huge natural resources in these hilly regions. Scenic

beauty of hills is required to be preserved. The Indian

Roads Congress has brought out a comprehensive

Hill Roads Manual, which is quite helpful for the road

engineers of the State PWDs and the Border Roads.

IRC has a dedicated committee for the hill roads in

order to provide a special focus to revisit the standards

and guidelines for development of roads in hill areas.

The Govt. has also undertaken Special Accelerated

Road development programme for the North Eastern

Region (SARDP-NE), which aims at improving road

connectivity of district headquarters and remote places

of NE region with State Capitals.

The IRC also formulates long term plans for the

road sector. Reference may be made to Nagpur Plan,

Bombay Plan, Lucknow Plan and Road Development

Plan: Vision 2021. The last Plan was published in

2001 by IRC for Ministry of Road Transport &

Highways. Major thrust areas covered in this Vision

document related to mobility in respect of main roads

and accessibility in respect of rural roads to connect

all our villages in a time bound programme. Strategies

for capacity augmentation and preservation of assets

have been brought out together with measures to

mobilize additional resources and capacity buildingin the government organization, consultancy sector

and contracting industry to meet challenges facing

the highway sector. Steps required meeting the

needs of safety, energy conservation and protection

of environment have also been dealt within this

Vision document. There is need to take a stock of

achievements made in this sector and identify major


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thrust areas for pursuit in the remaining years of this

Development Plan with a focus on 12thFive Year Plan.

I do hope that the Ministry of Road Transport and

Highways will take the lead in this exercise so that we

have balanced growth of all categories of roads and inall regions of our country.

In this context, the initiatives of the Central

Government in launching of NHDP in various

phases and PMGSY and of the State Governments

in undertaking development of State Highways and

Major District Roads are changing the landscape

of the country leading to both social and economic

development. The MORTH is also laying stress on

implementation of access controlled expressway

network. This programme would help in both transportproductivity and added safety. I am sure that Road

development planner at the top, have in their mind to

implement these plans in a reasonable time frame.

With the establishment of an Accreditation Committee

in the IRC under the Chairmanship of Director, Central

Road Research Institute, a number of innovation

materials, testing equipment and technologies have

been accredited in the last ve years. There is a need

to utilize these materials and technologies in the eld

so as to monitor their performance. For this, supportof the government is essential to work out a suitable

protection mechanism in case of any unforeseen

failure despite due diligence by all concerned. This

would help in upscaling the successful technologies

in day to day projects.

Another suggestion, I would like to make on this

occasion is for our researchers to undertake exercise

of mapping the strength characteristics of natural

occurring materials for road construction available

locally and provide guidance in maximizing their

use with or without stabilization techniques. I need

not to elaborate on this area as our Honble Minister

of State for Road Transport & highways, Shri Sarvey

Sathyanarayana ji has already stressed the need for

conservation of materials in his inaugural address.

Otherwise also, it is extremely important for reducing

the carbon footprint in the sector and reducing both

the costs of projects and saving time in transportation

of materials involving long leads.

For the last two decades, India has been witnessing

exponential growth in registered vehicles. This is

resulting in greater demands from various segments

of the vehicle users. The improvement in per capita

income has also resulted in higher aspirations of the

road users. To cater to the needs and demands of the

road users, Government has launched the biggest road

development programme in the Country, and I am

happy to mention that Indian Roads Congress fraternity,

is contributing to this nation building efforts of the

Government, by bringing out the Code of Practices,

Guidelines and Manuals, adapting the cutting edge

techniques/technologies and new materials. Duringthis Council meeting also, IRC will be bringing 8

important documents for discussions which have

been, otherwise, approved by the erstwhile respective

esteemed committees Viz .Bridges Specications &

Standards Committee (BSS), Highways Specications

&Standards Committee (HSS) and General

Specications & Standards Committee (GSS).

Sir, I take this opportunity to mention, that today

IRC can claim to be a global organization with which

some of the highly reputed road organizations in the

World are getting associated. In November 2013, an

International Seminar was organized in association

with the Government of France & PIARC at New Delhi

on the theme of Experience gained in PPP Projects,

which was a great success. The strong view that

emerged was that such event should make the annual

feature of IRC. The Japan Road Association (JRA)

have shown keen interest in associating with Indian

Roads Congress, and have proposed a Memorandum

of Understanding, which may allow access to thebest techniques and technologies of Japan in the road

sector.

We all know that the present decade is the decade

of innovation as declared by Govt. of India. No

Organization and sector can move on sustainable basis

unless the concept of innovations and research are

given due attention. I am happy to mention that Indian


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Roads Congress is moving on the path of growth and

development in this niche area as well. Initiatives are

being taken towards innovative concepts of skywalks

and to use municipal waste/mining and industrial

waste, etc. in road construction. The green initiativebeing taken by IRC which includes techniques for

material conservation, will go a long way in providing

sustainable solutions to road owning organizations in

the Country. The use of waste by-products may help

in freeing the landlls to benet the people at large,

thereby creating win-win situation for both the civic

agencies and the road sector.

After the 200thCouncil meeting, the IRC has released

four important documents including Manual of

Specication and Standards for expressways, whichhas been prepared in a record time of 9 months. The

another important release is the Manual of Specication

and Standards for six Laning of Highways through

Public Private Partnership (First Revision) in which the

concept of pedestrian segregation through pedestrian

pathway is given essence. Toilets on lay-by areas have

also been considered for enhancing road safety. The

present decade is the decade of action for road safety

as declared by United Nations, and the segregation

of vulnerable pedestrians will be a major initiative in

achieving road safety.

I am happy to mention that World Bank have taken

special interest and initiatives to associate with IRC

in road safety areas, and discussions are under way

for associating the experts of World Bank and IRC in

formulating new Guidelines/Code of Practices. Also a

programme is being worked out in consultation with the

World Bank to create a pool of road safety auditors on

Pan India basis. These will go a long way in achieving

the aim of reducing the road accidents to 50% from

the current level by the year 2020. However, I wouldlike to remind this august gathering that our Honble

Minister for Roads, Transport & Highways, Shri

Oscar Fenandes ji, during the last Council Meeting

held at New Delhi, has given us an innovative concept

of containing road rage and gave the slogan of Aap

Pehle. This Lucknowi Andaz of Pehle Aap would not

only shift the mindset of road users from the concept

of Main Pehle to Aap pehle but will also help

in avoiding number of accidents substantially, thus

contributing immensely towards enhancing the road

safety.

I would like to highlight the need for stakeholder

participation. Road is an unique infrastructure thattriggers inclusive growth. The other sectors of

economy get benetted from good road facilities. As

such, it should be the endeavor of the Corporates as

responsible stakeholders, to participate in road safety

through their corporate social responsibility, by way of

providing & sustaining Rest Lay-byes, crash barriers

etc, for the safety and well-being of the road users at

large.

In the end, I would like to express my gratitude to the

Government of Assam for their invitation for hostingthis Annual session. I also thank Shri Vishnu Shankar

Prasad, Secretary General, IRC and his dedicated team

of IRC Secretariat and Chairman of the State Steering

Committee, Shri A.C. Bordoloi, Commissioner &

Special Secretary, PWD (Bldg &Roads) and his

team of dedicated ofcials who have made excellent

arrangements for the success of this Annual Session.

Thank You

Jai Hind

Address by Shri V.K Pipersenia, AdditionalChief Secretary, Govt. of Assam during the


Shri V.K. Pipersenia, Additional Chief Secretary, Govt of Assam

delivering address

It is a matter of great honour for all of us in the govt.

of Assam to host 74 th Session of the Indian Roads

Congress. This is the third session which is being held


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in the city of Guwahati but I believe this is the largest

gathering of road related people that ever assembled

in the state of Assam. It is indeed heartening for all of

us. The roads are important for any civilization & the

strength of any civilization is judged by the quality ofroads. When we talk about Indus Valley civilization or

any other civilization, we always think that what kind

of roads they had. Roads are fundamental to human

existence and communication. Assam and North East

is very crucial and thats why we have lacked behind

in development of road network, which is not as strong

as elsewhere in the country. India, as such needs to go

a long way. When you go to Europe, America, Korea,

Japan or even anywhere abroad, when you come

back, the rst thing which strikes back, when we will

be having that kind of roads. Now there are number

of issues. Roads cannot be constructed in a vacuum,

you need land, you need men, materials and you need

money and I think Road Congress like this will debate

all these issues and tell us as to how we can develope

roads at par with the rest of world and particularly

for the North East. What kind of technology we

should have, how to provide the required funds,

how to have the required manpower, how to develop

the capacity of our engineers and how to have the

materials for road construction which will help us toconstruct good quality roads without endangering the

environment. This is seismologically very sensitive

zone. We nd the road construction sometime is done

in a manner without giving due emphasis to the fact

even when an earthquake dont occur, the landslide

may occurs. A lot of construction work have been

done in a manner in which the hazard of land slide

has been accentuated for us as we are sitting in the

city of Guwahati. We should give a particular attention

to this aspect. How should we construct roads whichwill not accentuate the problem of landslide in this

region, which will not endanger the environmental

degradation. When we will have the materials which

are environmental friendly and built road with these

without compromising the quality of roads? This is

challenge which we all of us face and I am sure the

Road Congress will address all these issues . Once

again I extend a very hearty welcome to all of you.

This is a beautiful time in Assam you have brought

sunshine and you have brought warmth and I also

invite you to take the sometime off and see the other

wealth of Assam, the wildlife sanctuary is close by,

who can afford time can go to the Kaziranga, this isthe best time to visit our National Parks. With these

words I again welcome all of you. Thank you very

much.

Address by Shri V.K. Gupta, Director

General (Works), CPWD during the


Shri V.K.Gupta, Director General (Works), CPWD

delivering address

It is my proud privilege to addressing the August

gathering in the 74th Annual Sessions inaugural

Session.

The Indian Roads Congress had played a stellar role

in providing a backbone to the Road and Bridge

Infrastructure sector. Most of you might be aware

that we in CPWD have been associated with some

of the most challenging and hardest road projects

in the country. We have numerous projects in our

credit in North East, Kashmir Valley and even in

Nepal and Bhutan. It is also a matter of honour forus to be executing some of the high altitude roads in

Sikkim and Uttarakhand , the already difcult project

conditions have been made even more so by two of

the worst natural disasters to have hit the country.

The Sikkim earthquake in 2011 and Uttarakhand

cloudburst in 2013. Such vagaries of mother nature

makes life difcult for the engineers but as is often

said tough gets going when the going gets tough. I am


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sure the engineers working in the various government

departments will come back to the drawing board

with their experiences and come up with improved

guidelines to make our asset more resilient to natural

disasters.Since the time is short I would only talk about only one

issue that is hesitating our mind as the policy makers.

Are we addressing sustainability issues while planning

for infrastructure specially in the environmentally

vulnerable areas. I believe it is high time that a platform

like IRC takes upon honours developing codes and

guidelines that promote sustainable development and

bring socially economically and environment friendly

practices into work. I again thank the organizers for

inviting me to this beautiful city of Guwahati and look

forward to enriching technical sessions in the comingdays. Earlier I got an opportunity to serve in the Assam

from 1984 to 1988 as an Executive Engineer. We

started serving for border fencing at district Dhubri

starting from try junction of Bangladesh, west Bengal

and Assam that is Ramrai Kuti now. I am again visiting

Guwahati after thirty years as Director General of

CPWD which is 159 years old department.

Thanking You very much.

Welcome Address by Shri A.C. Bordoloi,

Commissioner & Spl. Secretary to the Govt. ofAssam during the 74thAnnual Session of IRC

Shri A.C. Bordoloi, Commissioner & Spl. Secretary to the Govt.

of Assam delivering address

It is a pleasure to hold the 74 th Annual Session of

Indian Roads Congress at Guwahati in the State of

Assam. It is matter of great honour and privilege for

me to welcome you all to this historic old City of

Guwahati- the Gateway of the North Eastern Region

on the occasion of the 74 th Annual Session of IRC.

This is the third time that Guwahati has been holding

this prestigious event after 1957 and 2003.

Guwahati formerly known as

indian highways feb 2014

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