WRITE 500 WORDS ON :-
"THE ROLE OF TRANSPORT NETWORK IN THE LIFELINES OF COUNTRY INDIA
Answers
Answer:
Explanation:
Road transport is the second important mode of transport in India. It covers every corner of the country which the railway transport even could not cover. Road transport provides the basic infrastructural facilities to both the agricultural and industrial sector of the country.
Moreover, construction and maintenance of roads can generate huge employment opportunities as it is twice as labour intensive as agriculture or housing. Indian roads carry 85 per cent of the passengers and 70 per cent of the freight traffic of the country. The highways, make up only 2 per cent of the road network by length, but carry 40 per cent of this traffic.
Types:
Indian roads are classified broadly into following four categories:
(a) National Highways:
National Highways are considered as main arterial routes as it connects big cities, industrial centres, major ports and different states of the country. Total length of National Highways is nearly 79.1 thousand kms in 2012-13 and caters to about 45 per cent of the total road transport demand. The construction and maintenance of national highways of the country are the responsibility of the central government.
(b) State Highways:
State highways are the important roads which are connecting district headquarter and important towns and cities with the capital and National Highways. Construction and the maintenance of state highways are the responsibility of the State Government. Total length of State Highways in 2012-13 was 168.3 thousand kms.
(c) District Roads:
District roads connect production centres and markets. It also connects main roads to the interior places of each and every district. Major portion of this road is unmetalled and are, therefore, un-motor able during the rainy season. Total length of major district roads was 470.0 thousand km in 2004-05.
(d) Village Roads:
Village roads of India are connecting villages with one another and also connect the village roads with the nearest district roads, highway, railway stations or river ghat. Village roads may be broadly of two types—Classified and Unclassified. Unclassified Village roads are normally non-metalled roads. Total length of rural roads was 2,650.0 thousand km in 2004-05.
In India, total length of roads has increased from 4 lakh kms in 1950-51 to nearly 49.49 lakh kms in 2012-13 out of which 27.42 lakh kms is surfaced and the rest 22.07 lakhs kms is un-surfaced. This shows that annual growth rate of this increase in road length was 4.5 per cent.
National Highways which have a total length of nearly 66,800 kms constitute only 1.6 per cent of the total road system of the country. About 64 per cent of the villages of the country have a rural road network and the rest 36 per cent have no road connections. Moreover, over 65 per cent of our villages do not have an all weather roads.
At present, India has a total road network covering 4.69 million kilometers which makes it one of the largest road networks in the world. The country’s road network consists of National Highways, State Highways, Major District Roads, Other District Roads and Village Roads.
The road network comprises 79,100 km of National Highways, 1,68,300 km. of State Highways 4,70,000 km of Major District Roads and about 26,50,000 km of other District and Rural Roads.
Out of the total length of National Highways, about 24 per cent is single lane / intermediate lane, about 51 per cent is standard 2- lane and balance 25 per cent is 4-lane width or more. Though National Highways account for only 2 per cent of the total length of roads, they account for about 40 per cent of the total traffic.
It is estimated that road traffic in India accounts for 80 per cent of passenger traffic and 60 per cent of goods traffic in the country. In future, 87 per cent of the passenger traffic and 65 per cent of the goods traffic is expected to be met through road transport system.
In our Five Year Plans, a good amount of fund was allocated for the development of roads. During the first three plans and the Annual Plans, nearly Rs 1,104 crore was spent on the heads of road development. Again the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Plan had allocated funds worth Rs 862 crore, Rs 1,348 crore, Rs 3,439 crore and Rs 5,200 crore respectively for the development of roads in the country.