While presenting the Union Budget 2021-22 in Parliament, the finance minister said poll-bound West Bengal will see highway projects worth Rs 25,000 crore. She also announced that highway projects worth Rs 65,000 crore will be undertaken in Kerala. She also announced an Rs 18,000-crore scheme to augment public transport in urban areas.
The labourers, who are said to be of Nepali origin, were engaged in the construction of a hotel.
Raut was responding to a reporter's question about opposition parties' claim that Gadkari was targeted through the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on alleged irregularities in the work done by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).
Flash floods triggered by a cloudburst in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, resulted in casualties and widespread damage, prompting rescue operations and relief efforts.
The family of an Army jawan, Kapil, recounts the brutal assault he endured at a toll plaza in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. They describe the attack and the injuries he sustained, while police investigate and make arrests.
To prevent companies from submitting unrealistic quotes to bag project contracts across industries, the government is planning to soon roll out a mechanism to curb irrational bidding.
The National Highways Authority of India on Wednesday said it needs to borrow up to Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) per year for the next 15 years to implement Rs 9 lakh crore (Rs 9 trillion) worth of road projects in the PPP mode till 2031-32.
The central government has finalised GPS-based toll collection to ensure seamless movement of vehicles across the country.
Road awards were muted in Q1FY25. But the pace will accelerate with a bidding pipeline of Rs 1.1 trillion (September 2024), mostly dominated by HAM (Hybrid Annuity Model) projects, which contribute 47 per cent and engineering procurement and construction or EPC projects, which have about 36 per cent share. Hence, infrastructure companies mostly reported revenue decline on a year-on-year (Y-o-Y) basis in Q1FY25.
Cabinet to take up proposal to extend operation & maintenance contracts from 9 to 29 years
The Supreme Court of India has transferred a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning the safety and longevity of bridges in Bihar to the Patna High Court. The court expressed concern over the state government's handling of bridge collapses, noting that officials were suspended after incidents but reinstated after the public outcry subsided. The court also criticized the state's voluminous response to the PIL, which lacked explanations for the collapses. The Patna High Court will now monitor the state's efforts to ensure structural and safety audits of bridges in Bihar.
To deal with the chaos at toll plazas arising out of the government's junking Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, the government has suspended fee collection on all booths at National Highways till the midnight of November 11.
IMD weather forecast predicted a moderate to intense spell of rain in these areas for the next three to four hours.
The two policemen were injured by "hard and blunt instruments", while "two protesters with firearm injuries" were also brought to JPMC, the surgeon told Dawn.
The embassy of India in Bamako said it was "aware of the unfortunate incident" involving the kidnapping of five Indian nationals in Mali on November 6 and is working closely with local authorities and the concerned company to ensure their "safe release as quickly as possible."
'This tragedy will not be the last -- you shall witness another tomorrow, perhaps another the day after, and increasingly more.'
Most of these road contracts are spread across Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, with the government struggling to restart them.
Larsen & Toubro Ltd has secured a contract from National Highways Authority of India for constructing a six-lane dedicated flyover on National Highways No 1 (NH1) in Haryana at an estimated cost of Rs 418 crore.
The Delhi-Gurgaon Road witnessed traffic snarls on Tuesday after the authorities closed one carriageway and created a diversion for construction on the Dwarka Expressway.
Though some operators offer the facility of tag lanes, such tags can only be used at designated points.
An old bridge across Kali river in Uttara Kannada district collapsed in the small hours of Wednesday, resulting in heavy traffic along National Highway 66, connecting Goa to Karnataka.
Monsoon hit the state on June 20 and has since then cost it Rs 5,000 crore in damages.
The National Highways Authority of India will this year witness the highest ever growth out of the last decade. But Gadkari himself admits his biggest failure as India's roads minister has been his inability to curb loss of life in road accidents.
The minister expressed hope that toll operators will respond to his call positively. Earlier, Gadkari had asked NHAI to suspend toll on all national highways to ease transportation of essential goods and supplies.
Part-I of this three-part series dives into Delhi-NCR's SPR, Sohna, Dwarka Expressway, and Jewar Airport leading the charge.
'Some districts have said that areas which are away from the urban centres and where there have been minimal to zero Covid-19 cases may be exempted from the lockdown and construction activity should be allowed,' said a person in the know.
Security was increased outside the Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi due to a planned protest by the VHP and Bajrang Dal regarding attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh.
The restructuring exercise of the NHAI includes increasing the number of part-time members of the authority from the existing two to six, who would be from non-government sector. It also includes appointment of six full-time members, against five at present, one each for finance, administration, public private partnership, two members for projects and one for technical.
The implementation of this toll collection system, which will eventually eradicate toll booths, necessitates the fitting of an on-board unit (OBU) in every vehicle that can track a vehicle's location in real time.
The death toll from cloudburst and flash flood-related incidents in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh has risen to 14, with a search underway for 31 missing individuals. Extensive damage to homes, infrastructure, and livestock has been reported across the district.
As even bigger road construction players are not willing to bet on BOT projects., NHAI will have to rethink its thrust on the BOT model.
The project, anchored by National Highways Authority of India in partnership with National Payments Corporation of India, is gaining momentum, with big banks such as ICICI and non-bank entities like Paytm have also entered the arena.
Road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath had said earlier this month after a meeting of an empowered group of ministers that the government wanted to borrow $2 billion.
The year also saw the government allowing company bidding for a road project to hold up to 25 per cent stake in a firm bidding for another project from 5 per cent earlier.
'If our Budget allows, we may implement both measures -- making income up to Rs 10 lakh tax-free and introducing a 25 per cent slab for income between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh.'
Maharashtra Congress leader and former Lok Sabha MP Milind Deora has demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into Rs 12,000 crore spent by Mumbai's civic body on road works between 2017 and 2022.
Machinery and manpower have been deployed, but stones falling from the hills are obstructing the road opening work, the officials said.
Heavy overnight rain in Gurugram caused widespread waterlogging and traffic gridlock, bringing the city to a standstill. Several residential areas and major roads were inundated, leading to commuter chaos.
A farmers' protest against three farm laws of the Centre, which was continuing on a national highway in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district since December 19 last year, has come to an end with the protesters alleging use of force by police.
They said the incident occurred around 4 am when a 150-metre-long portion of the four-and-a-half-kilometer-long tunnel collapsed.
