A sense of deja vu

In 1927-28, the Indian Road Development Committee, chaired by M R Jayakar, had implicitly thought of a multi-layered network of roads, main roads and feeder roads

To understand the way road development evolved, one should read the 1908 Imperial Gazetteer. “On the other hand, the necessity of maintaining a right of way and providing security to life and property on frequented routes was never lost sight of; and the Mughal emperors, in particular, concerned themselves to mark out and guard the routes most used by the caravans which carried traders and goods from one end of India to another…The roads were generally guarded at intervals by posts (chaukis); between the chaukis the tracks were marked out by stones, pillars, or avenues of trees. The zamindars through