At a national infrastructure conference, the Road Transport & Highways Minister announced that each major road project board will display a QR code for citizens to access contractor, cost and maintenance details.
What’s Being Announced
In his address at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Conference on “Future of Smart Roads – Safety, Sustainability and Resilience” in New Delhi on October 28, the minister unveiled a transparency measure: each project board on major roads will carry a scannable QR code that allows any citizen to access:
- Project name and ID.
- The contractor’s name, supervising engineer’s name.
- Sanctioned cost, deadline, funding agency (centre/state/local).
- Maintenance history and progress updates.
Gadkari said: “I just talked about a QR code on a road – everyone should know who the minister is, who the secretary is, what his phone number is… who’s the contractor… who built the roads (in-case of potholes or broken road).”
He added wryly: “Sirf main hi kyun gaali khaoon, pura mere gale pr kyun latak jata hai.” (“Why should I alone take the blame — why should I hang by myself?”)
Why This Matters
- Public Accountability: The QR-code system aims to empower citizens to hold contractors, engineers and officials accountable for road quality and maintenance.
- Transparency & Governance: By making project data publicly accessible, the ministry signals a push for clearer infrastructure governance and reduced corruption risk.
- Infrastructure Quality: With roads being critical for logistics, this could improve service outcomes and maintenance responsiveness.
- Political Messaging: The minister’s rhetoric underscores a shift toward citizen-driven transparency rather than traditional top-down oversight.
Things to Watch
- Implementation: How quickly this QR-code system is rolled out across national highways, state roads and rural roads.
- Integrity of Data: Whether the information behind the QR codes is accurate, up-to-date and reflects real project status.
- Enforcement: Whether there are follow-up mechanisms, audits or penalties if the data reveals poor execution or delayed maintenance.
- Public Usage: The extent to which citizens actually scan the codes, report issues and how the system impacts complaints & fixes.
