An Open Letter to Hon.

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India

4 August 2016
Honourable Shri Narendra Modi (Personal Attention)
Prime Minister of India
7 Race Course Road
New Delhi 110 003
Subject: MORTH should fund ISRO towards next Mangalyaan!
Honourable Prime Minister:
I am writing to you personally on this topic as a last resort because my repeated
requests to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) on this national
issue for over 2 years 10 months have been futile. During this period, MORTH has
simply wasted over 160 crores which could have funded ISRO for the next
Mangalyaan or we could have built crores of shauchalayas across India.
I have written 5 personal letters to Hon. Nitin Gadkari (on 24/6/2015; 12/4/2015;
31/10/2015; 25/2/2016; and 18/5/2016) and 2 letters to his OSD Shri Vaibhav Dange
(on 13/1/2016 and 20/3/2016). Obviously, these were simply exercises in futility
because every time my letter was simply forwarded to concerned officer in
MORTH for necessary action. The concerned officer first formed a committee to
decide the issue and then decided to seek comments from engineers across India. I do
not have any idea as to what that concerned officer is doing right now.
Now coming to the issue raised by me: it is hardly technical, it is just commonsense.
Here it is in a nutshell. During construction of a new road when the first bituminous
layer (mix of stone and bitumen) is placed by a paver over a compacted plain stone
layer, the latter is primed by spraying liquid bitumen over it. It is called prime
coat. It is just like applying prime coat (primer) on new wood before applying the
paint. However, in India we do a strange thing. We apply an unnecessary, wasteful
second spray of liquid bitumen before placing the bituminous layer. They
wrongfully call it tack coat. There is no need for this second spray because:
1. Other countries such as US, Australia and S. Africa do NOT apply this second
spray. In some cases even the first spray (prime coat) has been found to be
technically unnecessary what to talk about the second spray.
2. Too much prime coat has been considered detrimental to the performance of
road. The second spray just adds to the first spray (prime coat) and therefore
bring excessive is technically undesirable.
3. In majority of cases, contractors in collusion with the government engineers
apply only one bitumen spray but claim for two sprays since bitumen is very
expensive. This cannot be checked after the bituminous layer is laid by paver.
Thus this wrong practice of two sprays also encourages fraud.
In my letter to Hon. Nitin Gadkari, I had requested him to ask MORTH engineers just
two simple questions:

1. Are other countries of the world such as US, Australia and S. Africa applying
two sprays of costly bitumen? [If they say yes, they are not telling the truth.
If they say no, then ask the following second question.]
2. What is so special or unique only in India that we need two sprays? [I do not
think they have any technically sound answer.]
Since bitumen is very expensive, it has been estimated that the second wasteful and
un-technical spray costs about 57 crores per year (Rs. 16.6 lakhs per day) to the State
Exchequer. As I mentioned, MORTH has already wasted some 160 crores during the
last 2 years and 10 months, which could have been used by ISRO towards
Mangalyaan.
I believe MORTH is paralyzed as far as decision making on this simple issue is
concerned. Therefore, I humbly request you to please intervene immediately and
decisively. Merely sending this letter again to MORTH for necessary action would
be another exercise in futility. I do not think you would really like to do that.
I would really appreciate it if you can respond to my letter as soon as possible
informing me about your decisive action to save crores and crores of rupees for India.
This open letter to you can also be accessed on the internet.
Yours Respectfully,
Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal
Karanpura House, 50 Raj Bhawan Rd.
Civil Lines, Jaipur 302 006
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, Prof. Kandhal served as Chief Asphalt Road Engineer of the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for 17 years. He has led many national
and international asphalt road organizations. He 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 and consulting services in asphalt
(bitumen) technology.
Prof. Kandhal has developed many new standards for the Indian Roads Congress in
recent years. In August 2011, Prof. Kandhal was inducted on the Wall of Honour
established at the largest asphalt road research center in the United States. In April
2012, he received the Lifetime Achievement Award in Asphalt Road Technology
from the International Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists during their
annual banquet held in Austin, Texas, USA.