Heavy monsoon rains battered Karnataka's coastal belt for the third consecutive day on Monday, severely disrupting normal life in Dakshina Kannada district, prompting authorities to issue a red alert and deploy disaster response teams. A red alert indicates extremely heavy rainfall of over 20 cm in 24 hours, and will remain in force for the next five days, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Several parts of Mangaluru city reported waterlogging and traffic snarls, while minor incidents of landslides were reported from hilly regions across the district. The district administration has directed schools and composite colleges to remain shut on 27 and 28 following the IMD issuing a red alert. Instructions were also issued to relocate residents living in vulnerable hillside and riverside areas to safer locations. The authorities have sought prompt action from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) following complaints of water intrusion in residential areas due to ongoing highway construction works.
The labourers, who are said to be of Nepali origin, were engaged in the construction of a hotel.
IMD weather forecast predicted a moderate to intense spell of rain in these areas for the next three to four hours.
Various stakeholders, including about 600 developers, bankers and officials from various wings, including the National Highways Authority of India, will also be present.
After the success of the National Highways Authority of India's (NHAI's) first infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) with foreign institutional investors, the Centre is working on a proposal to launch a fresh InvIT for national highways, where domestic retail investors can hold units of the trust
If India had a road regulator in the late nineties, the capacity-building model based on public-private partnerships would not have been in tatters.
Monsoon hit the state on June 20 and has since then cost it Rs 5,000 crore in damages.
Heavy rainfall across North India leads to fatalities, structural damage, travel disruptions, and school closures. Eastern states brace for more rain.
India has the second largest road network in the world, stretching across a distance of 33 lakh kilometres.
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.
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.
The National Highways Authority of India has decided to slow down the process of awarding contracts for new highway projects. This would further delay the process of modernisation and expansion of the national highways by a few months.
Spanning 555 km, the project was to cost Rs 7,500 crore.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a Rs 1,600-crore assistance package for flood-hit Punjab after reviewing the damage. He also announced ex gratia for the deceased and injured. The state is battling its worst deluge since 1988.
The government had planned to complete the bidding process and award the final contract for these projects by December 2008. An official from the National Highway Authority of India said, "Now that PPPAC had given approval to these 21 highway projects, we will be speeding up the bidding process."
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.
Security forces in Manipur have launched a major crackdown on the banned People's Liberation Army (PLA) following an ambush on an Assam Rifles convoy. Fifteen cadres have been arrested, including suspects directly involved in the attack. Investigations are underway to determine if the PLA has political patronage and if weapons looted during ethnic clashes are being used against security forces.
To meet the exigencies on highways, the civil aviation ministry has suggested to the surface transport ministry to earmark space for helipads every 100 kilometres on major national highways.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari inaugurated a 418 feet national flag, the tallest in the country, at the Attari-Wagah border in Punjab's Amritsar district.
If 2019-20 (FY20) was an unusual year for highway construction in India, with the pace of work slowing down for the first time since the Narendra Modi government assumed power in 2014, largely due to the general elections in May and liquidity crunch, the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21 (FY21) only made matters worse with lockdowns and labour unavailability. The pace of highway construction in 2021-22 (FY22) has not been able to bulldoze the pandemic barriers in a year marred by two Covid-19 waves - the second at the start of the fiscal year, the third towards the close. With localised lockdowns and restrictions on mobility, highway construction growth in the country has now fallen to a five-year low.
Union Minister for Road, Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said his ministry can address the water woes faced in parts of the country.
Golden Quadrilateral to now cost Rs 35,000 crore.\n\n
Security has been increased in Uttar Pradesh districts bordering Nepal following violent protests in Nepal over a ban on social media. Authorities are monitoring the situation and have increased patrols and surveillance.
NH-925 is India's first national highway to be used for emergency landing of IAF aircraft.
The government may consider a public-private partnership (PPP) mode for setting up national gas highways to ensure distribution across the country.
The statement by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) comes in the backdrop of collapse of under-construction Silkyara Tunnel in Uttarkashi on November 12.
India needs to be technologically and militarily prepared to defend itself from both Pakistan and China, alerts Ramesh Menon.
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.
The National Highways Authority of India and the road transport and highways ministry are currently engaged in appraisal of the request for qualifications, said a senior ministry official.
India has world's second largest road network with its National Highways covering a distance of 92,851.07 kms.
When Nitin Gadkari took charge as Road Transport and Highways Minister in 2014, he had set a target of constructing 40 km a day in two years. But construction at this point is a mere 16 km a day. Megha Manchanda on what ails the road sector.
After failing to get bids for over half of its highway projects last year, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to put up 19 highway projects worth Rs 23,805 crore for rebidding next month through a new short-listing process.
The company also needs to get its power plants going if it wants to reduce its debt burden.
The projects include six-laning of highway stretches in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, four-laning of highway stretches in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and two-laning with paved shoulders of stretches in Punjab and Rajasthan.
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).
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