An Open Letter to Honourable Shri Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister of Rajasthan

31 May 2009

The Honourable Shri Ashok Gehlot

Chief Minister of Rajasthan
8, Civil Lines
Jaipur 302 006

Dear Sir:

I sincerely hope you can spare a few minutes of your valuable time to read this letter
personally because it is of immense importance to the deplorable condition of urban and
rural roads in Rajasthan.
[Appeal to CM’s Private Secretary: If you love Rajasthan, I am sure you do, then you will
let the CM see this letter.]

I am a non-resident Rajasthani (NRR), who has returned to the motherland after serving
as Bitumen (Asphalt) Road Engineer in the United States for 35 years. In the interest of
establishing my credibility I am sorry I have to sacrifice my modesty in stating that my
peers in all continents of the world consider me as an authority in the bitumen road
technology. I have had the privilege of leading national and international bitumen road
related organizations while in the US. (My brief resume at the end)

The reason for writing this personal letter to you is to express my deep concern with the
following two issues, which I have seen first hand during the last four years’ stay in
Rajasthan:

• Most of our roads develop potholes within 2-3 years after construction or
overlaying with asphalt
• Our government agencies do not have a suitable asphalt mix to fill potholes
during the monsoon. They are still using 18th Century technology of filling
potholes with bare stone, dirt or sand bags.

I wish you could see the real condition of our roads in Jaipur especially during and after
monsoons so as to believe these two burning issues facing starkly at us.

I have the privilege of belonging to a select group of US experts, who are called upon to
investigate premature failure of asphalt roads in the US and throughout the world. So I
have considerable experience related to engineering factors, which lead to premature road
failures. In most countries of the world (including those with heavy rainfall and extreme
hot and cold temperatures), the average life of road surface is 8-10 years. However, we
have successfully brainwashed the general public to believe that the roads are bound to
develop potholes during rainy season. I know the road technology being used in India
really well and I also know the factors, which are leading to premature road failures of
our roads. Although we do lack quality control, some factors are based on ignorance. For

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example, we have some asphalt mixes specified by the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) and
the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORTH), which are prone to trapping
water and causing havoc to our roads. We must not use such mixes when better, long
lasting dense mixes are available in the IRC and MORTH specifications. Unfortunately,
our road engineers in the MORTH and State PWDs either do not want to believe or are
unaware of this problem. They need to be made aware and implement it as soon as
possible.

Concerning the pothole repairs during monsoon season, we are filling the potholes with
dirt or bare stone, which is simply unacceptable. During my tenure of 17 years as the
Chief Asphalt Road Engineer of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in the
US, I had developed a generic pothole repair mix, which was highly successful
nationally. This cold asphalt mix can be prepared and stockpiled before the monsoon.
When potholes develop during rainy season, this cold mix can be easily shoveled from
the stockpile, transported in truck, and placed in the pothole. Even a little water in the
pothole will not generally affect its survival. I tried this mix successfully on Jaipur roads
and Jaipur-Agra Road last year with the help of students from the Malaviya National
Institute of Technology in Jaipur. I can assist on a voluntary basis the engineers of
Rajasthan PWD, JDA, and contractors in producing such a mix. However, this would
require leadership and strong will and desire on part of these government agencies.

Sir, if you are going to send this letter to the bureaucrats and technocrats in the PWD,
JDA or JMC, you will as usual get a rosy report: “Everything is fine, we are doing this or
that, etc.” In that case, this letter is just an exercise in futility because I know from past
experience nothing will be done and we will continue to waste crores of rupees every
year with no tangible improvement to the condition of roads in Rajasthan.

I am a retired NRI, who has come home to make a difference with my expertise on a
voluntary basis. I do not represent any company or organization nor do I aspire for any
type of position in government or any other organization or committee. We NRIs receive
appeals to help our country with our expertise. I will be utterly disappointed if there are
no takers of my international and Indian technical expertise offered on a voluntary basis
right here in Jaipur. Together, we can improve the quality of our roads in Rajasthan and
set an example for the rest of India. I will be highly privileged to see you for 15
minutes, if not more, and explain the details. I am looking forward to a personal
response from you.

Yours faithfully,

Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal

Karanpura House, 50 Raj Bhawan Rd.
Civil Lines, Jaipur 302 006
Mobile 94140-54804

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal is Associate Director Emeritus of the National Center for
Asphalt Technology (NCAT) based at Auburn University, Alabama, U.S.A. NCAT is the
largest asphalt (bitumen) road technology center in the world.

Prior to joining NCAT in 1988, Prof. Kandhal served as Chief Asphalt Road Engineer of
the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for 17 years. He is the first person born
outside North America, who has held the following three national and international very
prestigious positions in the asphalt road technology area:

 President, Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists (with members from all

continents in the world)
 Chairman, American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International
Committee on Road Paving Standards (responsible for over 200 standards used
worldwide)
 Chairman, Transportation Research Board Committee on Asphalt Roads, U.S.
National Academy of Sciences

Prof. Kandhal has published over 120 technical papers and has co-authored the first ever
textbook on asphalt road technology, which is used by more than 25 universities in the
U.S. He has traveled to various countries in South America, Middle East, China, Vietnam,
Japan, Singapore, and Australia to provide training, troubleshooting, and consulting
services in asphalt (bitumen) technology. He has been to China three times to train their
highway engineers in building world-class roads.