The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is set to formulate a standardised and digital system to code and grade every internal road inside a village, with Punjab showing keen interest in implementing the pioneering move.
The existing system of road database in the country does not account for the internal village roads, with whatever information being available characterized by inconsistency, duplication and ambiguity, thereby limiting its effectiveness in ensuring precision, uniformity and ease of navigation.
“The absence of an interoperable framework has resulted in significant challenges for citizens, service providers, emergency responders and administrative authorities, particularly in relation to last-mile navigation and service delivery. In view of these constraints, there is an imperative need to establish a nationally standardised, geo-coded village road coding and addressing system, which is precise, machine-readable and universally identifiable,” the ministry said. The ministry on Thursday released a public consultation document on ‘Intra-Village Road Coding and Grading’ system and has invited suggestions from citizens, local communities and other stakeholders before the system is finalised.
Joint Secretary Bijaya Behera said, “The roads in villages should have a unique and recognizable name and code, visible on a sign, traceable on a digital map and linked to a national database.”
“The objective is to bring ease of living to citizens in rural areas by ensuring that any service – medical, postal, administrative, or commercial – can reach any address within a village quickly and without confusion,” he said.
V Uday Kumar, advisor to the ministry, said each road would be tagged with a DIGIPIN code, which is a geo-spatial identifier developed by the Department of Posts.
