STUDENTS' CORNER - 221

Taking into account the two points of view on development of a pot-holes ridden road, we can say that both the views have their own merit and demerit. All that matters is the cost involved and the urgency of need for rectifying the shortcomings on the road, the potholes.

More importantly, it is the cost involved in carrying out the maintenance. Perhaps you may be aware of the fact that India is said to have the second largest network of roads next to the United States. And highways play a critical role in the economy of a nation. The economy of the nation depends on largely the movement of goods within and without the country. And the efficient movement of goods saves both time and money; that is, the logistics cost of the movement of goods must be less and the developed countries record the less logistics cost than the developing countries. Briefly, the logistics cost reflects the

efficiency of the administration of the government in general. We will discuss it later at a relevant place and now we will focus on the development and maintenance of the roads.

Now, let us focus on the maintenance of the roads since construction of the roads is a very big and complex subject involving types of roads and kinds of surfaces for those roads.

The first question that comes to the mind is what is the importance of the maintenance of the roads. Simple and ready answer is safety of the road users and security of the goods transported.

Perhaps, you may know that fatal accidents on the road run into millions across the world. One leaves home for office and unfortunately if one happens to pass through an unsafe road, what amount of anxiety one will be subject to experience and what kinds of negative impact it might have both on the efficiency

of his work and on his physical health. Both work and worker are affected.

India is said to have a very high level of fatal accidents and the Highways department is taking all efforts to bring down the death-rate of the road accidents. Again, the government has identified some stretches on roads as ‘Black Spots’. A Black Spot refers to a stretch of a road, say about 500 meters, where

too many fatal accidents, from 5 to 10, have occurred besides causing injuries to many in about

three years.

We will see challenges faced while maintaining the roads in our next.