NEW DELHI, Oct. 9 -- The Centre plans to create a stronger feedback loop for rural road construction under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) by moving beyond the mere detection of defects towards understanding their root causes and improving supervision, training and future project design, according to two people aware of the development.

As part of the plan, the ministry of rural development will, for the first time, rope in academicians from premier institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Institutes of Technology, along with central and state government officials, to set up quality review teams. Inter-state inspections will be carried out by departmental working officers and academicians.

The...