Road construction

In March 1994, Colonel (Retd.) DPK Pillay, a Shaurya Chakra Awardee, saved the lives of two young kids during a gunfight with militants in Manipur’s Longdi Pabram village. But he didn’t stop at that, going on to uplift the village in several ways.

The roads that were once littered with waste and faced rampant open-defecation are clean, and lined with lush trees. The village is lit with solar lights, boasting of pucca homes painted in uniform colours, a skill development centre, a meditation centre, and even a public library!

Persons fetching 1 kg plastic waste will be offered a full meal while those collecting 500 gms waste will get a substantial breakfast. And the collected plastic will be used to construct roads. Brilliant!

Nedumgandam may be a small village in Idukki district but it can sure give big lessons in trash management to all of India!

In 2017, the budget for road safety increased by a whopping 100.4 per cent to Rs 5,217 crore. With this much money pouring into roadworks and safety, shouldn't we see an increase in road quality?

The asphalt used to build roads withers away as soon as heavy rains pelt the city, resulting in big holes on the road. Soon enough, water fills in the cracks, resulting in dirty roads, slow traffic and a dangerous situation, overall.

The state constructed road had been in shambles for a very long time. No number of letters or complaints encouraged officials to fix the mess.

An estimated 1.3 million tons of them are produced in a year worldwide which take years to decompose.

After their repeated requests to the municipal corporation fell on deaf ears, a group of 20 transgender folks in Gorakhpur accumulated their earnings to get a concrete road built in their locality.

Built by the Public Works Department in Palghar district, in collaboration with a Mumbai firm, the road is made of waste pinewood pulp cellulose.