MAY is the month when millions of middle-class and affluent Indians go on holidays – to hill stations, beaches, historic cities, or to their ‘native towns’ (as most migrants to cities refer to their home towns).

In the past, the railways used to be the sole mode of travelling long distances to these places. But the dramatic transformation in the Indian aviation sector — brought about by private airlines, especially low-cost, no-frills carriers — has triggered off a rush by millions of Indians who now fly to their holiday destinations.

But an equally significant transformation is occurring on the roads. The auto revolution in India – which now has virtually every major car manufacturer from the US, Europe, Japan and Korea operate plants in the country – has seen thousands of holiday-makers take to the wheels.

Fortunately, the ambitious road expansion projects launched by the central and state governments have also brought about a remarkable transformation on the ground: while in the past it used to be a tortuous experience to drive on Indian highways, today it can be a pleasurable one.

National Highway 4 (NH-4), which links Mumbai to Bangalore and Chennai, is one of the busiest highways in India. Thousands of trucks, buses, cars, two-wheelers, tractors and other types of vehicles can be found on this 1,200-km-long stretch that links important Indian western and southern cities including Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Chennai.

Driving along this highway was a horrendous experience and could take a motorist over a day to reach Bangalore, about 800 km from Mumbai. But how things have changed. The ambitious Golden Quadrilateral project providing for four-lane of national highways linking the four major metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata – has transformed the NH-4.

Driving from Mumbai to Bangalore now takes under 16 hours, and a growing number of motorists are taking out their cars to drive long distance on such national highways in India. On NH-4, for instance, one comes across cars from as far as Delhi and Haryana, and of course from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Vehicles that used to crawl at 20 to 30 km an hour, now zoom at over 120 to 140 kmph. Unfortunately, many of the motorists are not used to driving at such high speeds, and accidents are growing on Indian highways. Many of them do not bother to check tyre pressure, or follow the norms; lane indiscipline is rampant, a majority of motorists switch on the full headlights at night, and over-worked truck and bus-drivers falling asleep on the steering wheel, is also common.

Worse, many of the rural folk blatantly violate all traffic norms. Along NH-4, for instance, it is not uncommon to find farmers in their tractors – over-loaded with sugarcane or other produce – driving in the opposite direction in the fast lanes. Two-wheeler riders and cyclists routinely drive in the opposite direction, as the authorities have not provided for service lanes.

And in the absence of pedestrian crossings – subways or over-bridges – many tend to stray across the high-speed highways, resulting in gory accidents. Many also walk across the highway with their flock of sheep, goats or buffaloes, adding to the miserable track-record of road accidents in India.

The modernisation of Indian roads infrastructure has had more than its share of controversies. The Golden Quadrilateral project was launched by the previous BJP-dominated National Democratic Alliance government, and towards the end of its regime, the government put up huge posters of then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee along major highways, proclaiming it as his personal contribution to the development of India (the infamous ‘India Shining’ campaign).

When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government came to power in 2004, its first reaction was to rubbish the highway development project as an elitist one, meant for the benefit of the rich; the project was neglected resulting in cost over-runs and delays.

Fortunately, good sense prevailed, as the biggest beneficiaries of the highway upgrade and modernisation project were the rural poor, who found easy and cheap access to the markets for their produce.

The UPA government then not only revived the NDA government projects, but also stepped up investments in the North-South, East-West corridors, and a new one to build expressways linking major cities, and also upgrading four-lane highways to six-lanes.

About $60 billion are to be invested in the roads infrastructure during the current Five Year Plan period (2007-2011). India’s road network of 3.3 million-km (the second largest in the world) carries 70 per cent of its freight and 85 per cent of passenger traffic. While the affluent are only now using the national highways as a means of transport, for millions of poor people – who do not have access to railway stations or airports – national and state highways have been the only means of travelling across the country.

The National Highways Development Project (NHDP) comprises two major components – the 5,846-km Golden Quadrilateral, and the 7,300-km North-South, East-West corridors. Both are likely to be completed in about two years.

The biggest problems related to land acquisition, but the government succeeded in tackling most of these issues. It has also managed to resolve contentious issues relating to funding the projects. A model concession agreement (MCA) is now in force, and most of the road infrastructure projects are now being taken up as public-private partnerships (PPPs).

Initially, there were fears that motorists – and also the powerful truckers’ lobby – would oppose moves to levy toll on road users. But there has been a surprising degree of acceptance by virtually all road users. On the Mumbai-Bangalore stretch of the NH-4, for instance, motorists have to pay up to Rs500 by way of toll fees; truckers and bus operators have to pay much more.

But despite the steep cost, there has been universal acceptance of the concept of users’ paying charges for new facilities. Consequently, the government now estimates that up to 80 per cent of the $60 billion investments in new road projects would be made by the private sector.

The limited resources that the government has could be better utilised to build village and other rural sector roads, for which there is little private sector enthusiasm. Interestingly, while initially the government had to provide grants to attract private road builders, increasingly the concept of ‘negative grants’ is taking root. Private builders pay the government money for acquiring contracts to expand existing highways, or building new ones, as they get lucrative toll contracts on the roads.

The success of the expressways project (the Mumbai-Pune expressway has been an outstanding success) is also encouraging several state governments to build new ones linking important cities. Expressways, unlike national highways, are access-controlled, and pedestrians, two-wheeler riders, auto-rickshaws, tractors and off-road vehicles, and more importantly, buffaloes, sheep, and other animals are not allowed on these high-speed roads.

The fact, however, remains that woeful lack of patrolling on the national highways will nullify all these achievements. Traffic police along most national highways operate like dacoits, extorting funds from trucks and unlicensed bus operators. Truckers are allowed to overload their vehicles (often well past their prime), violating a Supreme Court order imposing restrictions on the carrying capacities of vehicles.

The police also ignore vehicles that violate pollution norms. Most of the highway stretches have abysmal medical facilities to treat accident victims. Those causing ghastly accidents get away with light prison terms – the sentences are in most cases awarded several years after the accidents occurred. Nearly 100,000 people are killed in road accidents in India every year.

Driving licenses are issued to all and sundry, including those who cannot read basic traffic signs. In many cases, money plays a major role in the award of licenses, rather than driving skills. The central government has recently initiated moves to tighten the rules and restrict the issue of licenses to the unlettered. But instilling traffic discipline and safe driving standards will prove to be a far more difficult task than building roads and highways in India.