Lok Sabha Question No. 272 (STARRED), answered on 2025-12-18
Subject: Highway Projects in Tribal/Backward Districts of Maharashtra
Ministry: ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS
Asked by: Adv Gowaal Kagada Padavi

## be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether  the  Government has taken note of the statement by the Minister  that  road  quality  is  non-negotiable  and  that  officers  and contractors  will  be  held  accountable  for  highway  works  after  the national  highway  network  grew  60%  to  1.46  lakh  kilometres  with projects costing 12.20 lakh crore, if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  the  number  of  kilometres  of  new  highways  or  State  highways  in Maharashtra especially in tribal or backward districts currently under construction  or  being  upgraded  and  the  budget  allocation  for  such works;
- (c) whether the Government has introduced special quality monitoring or maintenance programmes for highways traversing tribal or remote terrains where slopes, drains and access are more difficult to ensure durability and safety, if so, the details thereof; and
- (d)  the  timeline  by  which the Government expects all major highway projects in tribal/backward districts to meet the quality and completion norms and the time by which the first public audit report covering these districts will be available?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)

- (a) to (d) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *272

## ANSWERED ON 18 th  DECEMBER, 2025

## HIGHWAY PROJECTS IN TRIBAL/BACKWARD DISTRICTS OF MAHARASHTRA

*272. Adv Gowaal Kagada Padavi:

## Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार्ग मंत्री

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF LOK SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.  272  ANSWERED  ON  18.12.2025 ASKED  BY  ADV  GOWAAL  KAGADA  PADAVI  REGARDING  HIGHWAY PROJECTS IN TRIBAL/BACKWARD DISTRICTS OF MAHARASHTRA

- (a) Yes, Sir. National Highways (NH) network length in the country has increased by about 60%, from 91,287 km in March, 2014 to 1,46,560 km and at present, NH projects are ongoing in about 28,000 km length in the country, costing about ₹ 7.70 Lakh Crore.

All  efforts  are  made to ensure that the NHs are constructed as per stipulated quality standards specified in the Indian Roads Congress  (IRC)  specifications  and  codes.  In  case  of  sub-standard works/ projects where major deficiencies against quality are observed, actions  against  defaulting  agencies  have  been  taken  up  as  per  the provisions of the Contract/ Concession agreement, such as termination of  contract  agreement,  levying  of  penalties/  liquidated  damages, debarment/ blacklisting, declaring as non-performers etc.

Penalties  against  damages  have  been  imposed  on  Contractors/ Concessionaires  in  25  nos.  of  projects,  Defect  Liability  Period  (DLP) has been extended in 3 nos. projects, Contractor has been blacklisted/ debarred or Contract Terminated in 11 nos. cases, Authority's Engineer/  Independent  Engineer  (AE/IE)  or  their  key  Personnel  have been blacklisted/ debarred for 11 nos. projects and Performance Bank Guarantee forfeited/ encashed for 2 nos. projects.

- 11 officers were removed from service on account of performance  assessment  and  other  disciplinary  actions  taken  on  11 officers  for  various  reasons  including  negligence  and  dereliction  of duties.
- (b)  to  (d)   The  Government  in  the  Ministry  of  Road  Transport  and Highways is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways. Development  and  maintenance  of NHs  is a continuous  process.  Works  on  NHs including for NHs  providing connectivity to aspirational and tribal districts and other districts and their capacity augmentation are taken up based on the traffic density, connectivity requirement, condition of the road and synergy with PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP).

At present, NH projects in total length of 3,840 km and costing ₹ 51,029  Crore  are  ongoing  in  the  State  of  Maharashtra.  Out  of  these, projects in total length of 1,952 km costing ₹33,408 Crore either pass through or are in tribal / aspirational districts which are scheduled for completion in a phased manner by June, 2027.

Funds  for  development  and  maintenance  of  NHs  are  allocated State/ Union Territory (UT) / Agency-wise and not project-wise.

To ensure that highway construction in the country (including for NHs passing through tribal  or  remote  terrains)  adheres  to  stipulated quality standards, Consultants (AE/IE) are appointed by the executing agencies  for  day-to-day  supervision  of works  at  site.  Inspections  are undertaken from time to time and ensure adherence of conformity of quality  of  the  work  done  by  the  Concessionaire/  Contractors  with stipulated requirements

The Government has taken the following initiatives for improvement  of  quality  control  systems  in  implementation  of  NHs works: -

- i. Policy  for  Adoption  of  Automated  &  Intelligent  /Machine-aided Construction (AI-MC) in NH projects issued;
2. Assessments of road conditions through Network Survey Vehicle (NSV) mandated for all NHs and Expressway works at the time of completion and every six months thereafter, which is monitored through  electronic  platform.  NSV  system  for  road  condition assessment  has  further  been  revamped  using  analytics  for enforcement  of  contractual  provisions  during  Operation  and
- ii. Maintenance (O&M) through dedicated central cell;
- iii. Operationalization of a centralized system called NHAI One App for Monitoring and rectification of highway defects which enables geo-tagging of defects along with photographs;
- iv. Analysis of High-Resolution Imagery collected from Drone Surveys in Drone Analytics Monitoring System (DAMS) integrated with Artificial Intelligence/ Machine  Learning  algorithms  for periodic evaluation of progress and quality of ongoing NHs works from time to time;
- v. Deployment  of  Mobile  Quality  Control  Vans  (MQCVs)  equipped with  Non-Destructive  Testing  Equipment  on  pilot  basis  in  four States, namely in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha and Karnataka, for diagnostic  assessments  of  overall  health  and  quality  of  works from time to time during project implementation phases. Decision has been taken to diversify this initiative in some more States;
- vi. Deployment  of Third-Party Quality Auditors for independent quality audits of NH works on a case-to-case basis and follow up corrective  action  by  concerned  agencies  based  on  such  Audit Reports.

Remedial work to repair or reconstruct damages during construction or in the Defect Liability Period (DLP) is the responsibility of the Contractor/ Concessionaire at their own cost as per provisions of  contract  agreement  except  in  those  cases  where  the  Contract Agreement has been terminated in which case the securities provided are forfeited.

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