Rural roads in Assam are engines of economic growth in the state. Barring a few exceptions, most rural habitations are now connected with good roads. Apart from connecting the villages to the nearest market, these roads also connect to state and national highways that facilitate farmers and traders directly transporting goods to bigger markets in Guwahati and other places. Construction work on the rural roads meeting quality norms and their maintenance is critical to sustaining the momentum of growth in rural Assam. The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) has been playing a crucial role in the transformation of rural connectivity and hence the rural economy. Better road connectivity has significantly reduced travel time, and farmers and traders can bring supplies of their agricultural produce to markets in Guwahati much faster, which has provided them a competitive edge over other traders dealing in supplies of the same vegetables from other states. The steady increase in the percentage of tribal women vegetable vendors in Guwahati can be attributed to significant improvement in the network of rural roads and highways in the state. Rural women getting such economic opportunities and contributing to household income also signify inclusive growth and their economic empowerment. In some villages, irregularities in the construction of PMMGSY and other rural roads have been posing impediments for farmers and women in accessing Guwahati and other urban markets with larger consumer bases. Rural roads being a state subject, the guidelines of PMGSY stipulate that maintenance of roads constructed under the programme is the responsibility of the state governments, and all road works are covered by initial five-year maintenance contracts to be entered into along with the construction contract with the same contractor, as per the standard bidding document. Maintenance funds to service the contract are required to be budgeted by the state governments and placed at the disposal of the State Rural Roads Development Agencies, and on expiry of the 5-year post-construction maintenance, PMGSY roads are required to be placed under zonal maintenance contracts funded by the state governments. Apart from facilitating market linkage for farmers, traders and entrepreneurs, the feeder roads in rural areas also play the most essential role of making education and healthcare accessible for the rural population. The PGMSGY programme has a built-in maintenance mechanism that requires each state to sign a Memorandum of Understanding at the time of scheme implementation, committing to provide adequate funds for both phases of maintenance – the initial five years post-construction and the subsequent five-year maintenance cycle. Even though blacktopping of PMGSY roads is ongoing, nearly 50 per cent of rural roads in the state are gravel roads, and blacktopping the entire rural road network is crucial for increasing the availability of all-weather roads in rural Assam. Allocation of adequate budgetary resources over the next ten years is of paramount importance to achieve the goal of converting 20 per cent of rural roads to two-lane by 2034-35 and their maintenance. Market linkage, farm mechanisation, improvement in healthcare services, and rising demand for faster transportation have led to increased vehicle density on rural roads, and congestion on single lanes slows down the traffic on these feeder roads. Smooth transportation on rural roads is also crucial for boosting rural tourism, with more and more domestic as well as foreign tourists visiting Assam, preferring ecotourism sites and exposure visits to traditional weaving clusters and iconic tourism sites in the state. More footfall of tourism in rural areas but limited to the carrying capacity of each individual site is vital for augmenting household income and village economy, and prioritising all-weather roads deserves the attention of policymakers. Annual ravaging flood waves leave a large number of rural roads, including PMGSY roads, damaged, which require repair and maintenance work to invariably adhere to the benchmark standards. Empowering users of rural roads to provide regular feedback on the construction, repair and maintenance of roads can strengthen oversight mechanisms, with local residents living on both sides of these roads helping the government to get real-time updates on road conditions and the progress of work so that timely correction measures can be initiated wherever any irregularities or anomalies are reported and observed. Design parameters of rural roads are recommended to meet the requirements of villagers only and are not suited for frequent plying of heavy vehicles. In many areas, heavy dumpers frequently using these roads for moving earth, boulders, and sand cause damage to the rural roads, more particularly the gravel roads, causing immense difficulty to regular road users of the villages connected by these roads. Strong regulatory measures are needed to curb such movement of large vehicles with heavy loads. Without effective enforcement, such regulatory norms will only remain on paper. For an infrastructure-deficit state like Assam, the construction of a large road network, including rural roads, also mandates the maintenance of these assets to sustain the growth in the rural economy and the transformation of subsistence farming to commercial farming.