TOI has learnt that the minister issued the order this week and sought action taken reports. In his order, Gadkari has referred to his recent drive on the 135-km EPE, which works like a bypass for Delhi.
Warning that none will be spared for negligence and poor maintenance of highways, Gadkari had said, “Now we want to make a record of retiring non-performing officers and blacklisting contractors who fail to do good work and maintain stretches with them after we have created records in highway construction. We will not spare bad highway builders. We will ensure bank guarantees of such players are forfeited and they are not allowed to bid for new works.”
Officials said Gadkari has directed the ministry to conduct an “end-to-end investigation” of Sohna-Vadodara stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai and Amritsar-Jamnagar expressways by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) at the earliest. In both cases, the NHAI has imposed Rs 50 lakh fine on two contractors for not attending to the defects timely; sacked engineers for poor supervision and lapses; and issued show cause notices to NHAI officials.
Speaking at an event organised by the Indian Road Congress on Thursday, Gadkari reiterated his focus to create a record in actions against non-performing officers and contractors failing to carry out quality work. Though he applauded the recently-opened ‘state-of-the-art’ Dwarka Express project, he flagged how construction companies and engineers can’t pfect expansion joints.
Sources said the minister is aggressively pursuing investigation into maintenance- and quality-related complaints after the recent incidents, especially after heavy rains across states.
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