At least 350 km of national highways across India were damaged in the first three months of the current financial year with 89 km from Meghalaya alone. The reasons included damages due to severe floods and rain, the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
Responding to a question from Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Shukla, union minister Nitin Gadkari also said that there has been one incident of collapse of a bridge on a national highway in the country due to flood, rain, or cyclone during the current year. Shukla had asked whether the ministry was aware of damages to highways and the collapse of bridges on highways due to rain this year.
“One Bailey Bridge on NH-37 (Irang Bailey Bridge) in the State of Manipur, for restoration of which a permanent 123 m span RCC 70R bridge has been constructed adjacently,” Gadkari said.
Out of the 350 km damaged this year, 278 km were in four states alone – Meghalaya (89 km), Mizoram (67 km), Karnataka (64 km), and Assam (58 km). Further, 13 km each in Maharashtra and Sikkim also got damaged this year.
The Ministry informed the House that it is primarily responsible for the development and maintenance of national highways (NHs).
“Development and maintenance of NHs is a continuous process. The conditions of NHs including condition of bridges are assessed from time to time by the Ministry and its various executing agencies such as National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), Border Roads Organisation (BRO), Public Works Departments (PWDs) / Road Construction Departments (RCDs) / Corporations of State Governments / Union Territories (UTs),” it said.
The maintenance works on NHs are accordingly taken up from time to time to keep the highways in traffic-worthy condition, it added.
The ministry also informed the House that it has evolved a mechanism to ensure the maintenance and repair (M&R) of all NH sections including bridges through an accountable maintenance agency.
“The M&R of stretches of NHs, where development works have commenced or operation, maintenance and transfer (OMT) concessions/ operation and maintenance (O&M) contracts have been awarded, are the responsibility of the concerned concessionaires/ contractors till the end of the defect liability period (DLP)/ the concession period,” the ministry said, adding that for national highway stretches undertaken under Toll Operate and Transfer (TOT) and Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT), M&R responsibility lies with concerned concessionaire till the end of the concession period.
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