Introduction
In India, rural roads are the part of tertiary road system, which consist of other district roads (ODR) and village roads (VR). Nearly 50% of 6 lakh villages have road access. The Government of India has committed to provide full connectivity under special programme known as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Under this programme all the habitations having 500 and above population will be connected by the year 2007. Master Plan for rural roads should be prepared in a scientific manner at district level for implementation of the, PMGSY programme for full connectivity. In order to over come the problems associated with the rural roads such as lack of database and to prepare rural plan it is required to build a strong database preferably in electronic environment.
Village and road information system
Information system plays vital role in planning and development of rural areas. The invention of high-tech in the field of telecommunication, remote sensing and computers would lend a valuable support to spatial planning process. The most advanced computer based information technology tool for spatial planning is the Geographic Information System, which would become indispensable in planning and management of database. GIS can be used as an effective tool for village and road information system, which will help the planners and administrators to identify the problems associated with rural road development activities, location and provision of appropriate facilities, monitoring and maintenance management of the assets created in rural areas. In these cases the information generated from the villages as well as the decision taken at the official level will flow faster to the official involved in development activities. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a simple method for collection and collation of data of village and roads, which will help in planning and provision of various facilities.
Development of database
In order to prepare a scientific rural road Master Plan it is necessary to build a strong database, preferably in computer environment. The most important aspect of the database development process is the clear understanding about the micro level data, which should be collected from various organizations at the grass root level and then collated at the block/district level for preparation of the rural road network planning.
GIS Based Approach
The various data items required for the development of a comprehensive rural road planning and development can be broadly categorized under three categories
(1) Village data, (2) Rural road data and (3) Map data.
Village Data
The Village level data will have three main components such as reference data (the name and code number), demographic data (population) and Infrastructure data (socio-economic functions or facilities available in habitation/ settlement).
Rural Road Inventory
It is an integrated system for collection and storage of rural road related data in a format compatible to the requirement of various user groups. A comprehensive inventory of all rural roads including Other District Road and Other Village roads constructed/improved under various rural development programmes such as RLEGP, NREP, MNP, JRY, PMGSY, sugarcane roads etc have to be prepared. For each road the following types of information have to be collected.
- Road reference data
- Road geometric details
- Road pavement condition
- Terrain and soil type
Map Data
The map at block level should be prepared at 1:50,000 scale by referring Survey of India toposheets. If available, the arial photos and satellite imageries etc. can also be used.
The map data should contain the following items.
- Location of habitation/settlements
- Boundaries
- Road Network
- Water bodies (ponds, lakes, etc) Rivers and Irrigation canals
- Other Features, such as places of tourist and historical importance, Quarry Sites, Mining Areas, Location of industries, if any