NHAI may put officials on dock for accidents

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has said that it will hold officials liable for any fatal or serious accidents that occur as a result of poor road engineering works.

In a circular, the NHAI has taken a serious view towards the dereliction of duty by the representative of NHAI/IE/AE involved in the process of issuance of the provisional certificate, thereby jeopardising the safety of users in utter disregard of the policy guidelines and provisions of the contract agreement.

Further, the Highway Authority of India said it has noticed that provisional completion certificates were being issued keeping safety works such as road marking, road signages, and end treatment of crash barriers in the punch list. compromising the safety of users but also bringing a bad name to NHAI upon the occurrence of accidents/ fatalities, it added. The pending items are put under a category called a punch list.

The NHAI has directed that all road safety works on the project highway should be completed in all respects prior to issuing a provisional certificate.

“Regional officer/ project director/independent engineer will be held liable for any fatal/serious accidents that occur as a result of poor road engineering works,” NHAI said in a circular.

The Government-owned agency has said the project highway can safely and reliably be placed in operation/service and minor work that is incomplete and are not likely to cause material inconvenience to the users or affect their safety is included in the punch list to be completed within 30 days.

Recently, Union minister Nitin Gadkari attributed some of the road accidents to faulty/incomplete project reports. He asserted that companies need proper training for preparing detailed project reports for the construction of highways and other roads.