In a groundbreaking move, a team from the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India utilised artificial intelligence to determine whether the roads resurfaced by the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation actually required it. According to details, of the eight stretches that the local authority had resurfaced at significant expense, the CAG team discovered that at least five roads were in excellent condition and did not necessitate any resurfacing.

A senior official of the UT administration confirmed, "Yes, artificial intelligence was employed. A device was installed at the rear of a vehicle that subsequently traversed the resurfaced roads. The device's software assessed the presence of potholes and other parameters considered by the corporation prior to determining the need for resurfacing."

He added, "According to the CAG, during the process, it was ascertained that five roads were in good condition and did not require resurfacing." The inspected roads were located in sectors 41, 42, 52, 43, among others. An official stated that a communication had been sent to UT Adviser Dharam Pal, informing him about the inspection conducted by the CAG and the discovery that some roads, resurfaced using public funds amounting to Rs 70 million, were in good condition.

When contacted, an official from the Chandigarh municipal body specified that they resurfaced the roads in accordance with the guidelines prescribed by the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India (MORTH). He mentioned that a response regarding the same had also been sent to the Chandigarh administration, explicitly stating this.

Sources indicated that the Chandigarh administration, on the other hand, has sought expert opinion from the Central Road Research Institute regarding the matter.

The CAG, in its letter to Chandigarh Adviser Dharam Pal, also suggested minimising manual intervention in road resurfacing. It proposed adopting AI-based methods for greater accuracy and precision in the process.

The CAG's letter to the Adviser read, "An audit test assessed the condition of the roads undergoing repairs by employing an AI-based survey to identify potholes and cracks. It was found that five out of eight roads were in good condition and did not require resurfacing. Only two roads were found to be in poor condition, while the status of one road was unknown. However, all eight roads had been selected for resurfacing. The civic body had labeled the roads' condition as 'poor'. According to the AI tool, roads with over 50 per cent damage were classified as poor, while those with less than 20 per cent damage were classified as good."

Interestingly, the Chandigarh municipal body has been resurfacing roads under its jurisdiction every five years, regardless of whether they needed repairs or not. In the last municipal body meeting, Chandigarh Mayor Anup Gupta called for the digitisation of road records and disclosing the names of the Junior Engineer (JE), the Senior Divisional Engineer (SDE), and the contractor involved in the public domain. He also requested digital records indicating when a particular road was last resurfaced. He even requested an agenda item to classify whether specific roads required resurfacing or not.

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