Bihar to use tamper proof laser technology for quality control of roads

NSV technology comes with vehicles fitted with high resolution camera and laser-beam throwing capacity to record and assess the condition of roads beneath the surface.

Bihar road construction department (RCD) will now use a “high precision laser-based technology” to check the quality of newly constructed roads and maintenance of old ones to save time, cost and ensure accuracy in assessment.

Ludhiana, India – March 15, 2021 : Jagraon Bridge to Dholewal road block due to construction work of road in progress Ludhiana on Monday, March 15, 2021. (Photo by Gurpreet Singh/Hindustan Times)

The department till now relied on manual verification of quality control measures as stipulated under the International Roughness Index (IRI), which was not only time-consuming and costly but also prone to fudging. It has now decided to adopt the laser-based network survey vehicle (NSV) technology, recently introduced to check the quality of construction of national highways.

Vehicles equipped with NSV technology come with high resolution camera and laser-beam throwing capacity to record and assess the condition of roads beneath the surface. Bihar has around 5,000 km of national highways, 4000km of state highways and around 11,000km of major district roads.

Additional chief secretary, RCD, Amrit Lal Meena said the new technology will also ensure that contractors are penalized suitably for not adhering to quality control measures. “Manual inspection of road is a vigorous exercise and costs a huge sum as road maintenance was brought under the Bihar public grievances resolution rights act,” said Meena.

Bihar Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act 2015 makes it incumbent on the government agencies to deliver a set of services within a stipulated time, empowering residents with the legal right for hearing of grievances, redressal and of communication on the decision taken.

Meena said the department decided to adopt the NSV technology after RCD minister Nitin Navin, during a recent meeting to review various undergoing road projects, asked for speedy disposal of complaints related to poor maintenance of roads.

Accordingly, the executive engineers of the department have been told to engage among 41 firms, empanelled by the Union ministry of road transportation and highways (MoRTH), for faster and digitized survey of roads for their timely maintenance.

Under the RCD’s maintenance policy, contractors are obligated to maintain roads for seven years after its completion. Meena said the policy also had provisions for high-level inspection of the projects.