Indian roads are of poor quality and this affects the movement of goods trucks, the ministry of road transport and highways told the Parliament quoting a third-party study.
“Indian roads are of poor quality, lacking maintenance and pedestrians and animals having uncontrolled access to roads, resulting in low average speed of vehicles, break-downs and accidents,” the ministry said, quoting a joint study by Transport Corporation of India – Indian Institute of Management Calcutta (TCI-IIMC).
Asked if the government had any reaction on how the poor condition of national highways was impacting goods movement, the ministry said it had not conducted any in-house study to find out the impact of poor quality roads on goods transportation, and therefore the question of a reaction on the subject did not arise.
MP Keshav Prasad Maurya wanted to know if it was true that on average, Indian trucks travel only 300 km per day as opposed to their ability to travel 600 km per day due to the poor condition of national highways.
In response, the ministry also said it did not have any plans to provide relief to transporters.