>Quite interesting here however that there is no Civil
Engineer in
>the membership of Assam Net, or if there are, they have nothing to
>say on how their knowledge or skills which are being impugned
:-).
Few months back, I saw some messages written by Sri Devi Charan
Bora in this forum. He is a welknown Civil Engineer from Assam
PWD that too from National Highway division. He was an Ex-Chief Engineer,
Secretary & Commissioner, PWD and Ex-member, Assam Public Service
Commission. If he is still a member of this forum, I request him to enlighten
us on this issue.
>Compound all that with rampant stealing and bribery, 'gafiloti' (
dereliction of duty), absence of a system thru which those responsible could
be held accountable and so forth, what you see is what you get. If the bribery
and stealing could be abated, a lot will improve.
As far as I know, the National highways in Assam are constructed as per
specification, set out by the National Highway Authority under Ministry of
Shipping & Transport and the specs are same all over India. There are no
seperate consideration for the heavy rainfall in Assam, which is one of the
main reasons for deterioration of the roads. Further, supervision of works in
this part of the world is pathetic. Until & unless bribery & stealing
are stopped, there's no way out.
Mridul Bhuyan
>From: Chan Mahanta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To:
[email protected]
>Subject: [Assam] Roads in Assam
>Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2005 09:44:35 -0500
>
>While I have great empathy with all who are in despair over the
>condition of roads in Assam, I could not help being amused by
some
>of the observations on its causes.
>
>Quite interesting here however that there is no
Civil Engineer in
>the membership of Assam Net, or if there are, they have nothing
to
>say on how their knowledge or skills which are being impugned
:-).
>
>Having a lot of close dealings with civil engineering
professionals
>in my line of work as a practising architect, I happen to know
a few
>things about desi-civil engineering skills as relate to road
>building. For that matter about building engineering as well. I
>don't have any information on the Assam trained ones, but I do
know
>a lot about many IIT and other desi-Engg. College trained ones
. And
>a few with US undergrad. as well as graduate training also.
>
>Fact of the matter is that in the USA, the SKILL of the
engineers do
>not come into question. The specifications and standards are
SET,
>mostly by public agencies. You just pick the application and
call
>out the spec. system the handbooks. THey are usually put on the
>documents by glorified drafters who are called "designers".
>
>The quality is mostly dependant on the workmanship, the
installation
>practices. In the US we can control that by specifying
independent
>lab. testing of such things as base compaction ( a critical
factor
>in road building). Mechanical rolling and compaction ensures
uniform
>quality. The mix and thickness of the rock base is very
important as
>is the asphaltic-concrete ( the commonly used term in the USA)
mix.
>Both can be controlled with lab. testing.
>
>The most significant factor involved in all these as far as
road
>building is concerned are SOIL conditions and DRAINAGE. No
matter
>how good everything is, if the soil is poor and if it is NOT
>properly drained, the asphalt paving would soon fail.
>
>In Assam the most significant culprit seem to be soil quality,
>subsoil water levels and drainage. I say seem because I am not
an
>expert and have no Assam or Indian experiences. I suspect the
>quality of the asphaltic mix ( being oil based--it is the most
>expensive part, and thus the tendency to cut corners in
quality) is
>also an issue and without independent and competent lab.
testing,
>could hardly be controlled. The subgrade preparation, mostly by
>manual labor would also vary dramatically in quality.
>
>In fact a project that I designed which is under construction
as I
>write, we have had severe problems of deteriorating existing
asphalt
>pavements. We specified subsoil drains that are interconnected
and
>taken to the storm drainage system, to alleviate the problem.
>Incidentally, there is such a thing as a storm drainage system
here,
>and funny thing is they work :-).
>
>I have not seen many roads in Assam where drainage is adequate.
It
>is in the nature of the beast. Once a road surface gets
submerged,
>even if for just a few hours, its fate is sealed. Or if the
ditches
>on the road sides hold water for any extended period of time at
a
>high level it would seep thru into the road bed and render it
>vulnerable to rapid deterioration.
>
>Compound all that with rampant stealing and bribery, 'gafiloti'
(
>dereliction of duty), absence of a system thru which those
>responsible could be held accountable and so forth, what you
see is
>what you get. If the bribery and stealing could be abated, a
lot
>will improve.
>
>I have not seen much of how things are done elsewhere in India,
but
>I never cease to be amazed by the heights of CURBS in Delhi, in
>Gurgaon, in Mumbai and in new Kolkata or Guwahati: They are so
tall
>in certain places, that you cannot open car doors. In Delhi, if
you
>fall off one, you could break a leg :-). But in old Kolkata,
those
>that were built during the Raj, they are normal, and still
good. I
>guess the firangis knew something about design the desis don't.
Or
>it could just be that the desi CE's have since given up on
drainage,
>and to contain the collected water they keep raising the curb
>heights. In places like Paltan Bazar or across from the PM's
>residence at Delhi, the curbs are easily 18" tall.
>
>
>BTW, my riverlinking friend and college batch-mate, Dinesh
Mishra,
>the flooding expert from Bihar ( riverlinking members would
know of
>him) told me things about roads in there that sounded as good
:-) if
>not worse than in Assam. They too have similar soil and
drainage
>problems as we do, not to mention the PEOPLE problems.
>
>cm
>
>
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