NEW DELHI: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) faced sharp criticism from members across party lines at a meeting of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday over rising road accidents, recurring landslides, inadequate drainage and concerns surrounding toll collection, sources said.
According to people familiar with the proceedings, PAC chairman K C Venugopal and several members, including BJP MP Anurag Thakur, questioned the highway authority over poor planning and lax implementation of projects.
The sharpest criticism came from Thakur, who flagged the condition of highways in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. He is learnt to have told the panel that the road construction in the hill states was not being carried out scientifically, with unstable slopes left unsecured, triggering frequent landslides.
He pointed out that while one side of a road is stabilised, the opposite side often collapses, resulting in repeated disruptions. Thakur also raised concerns over long queues at toll plazas, alleging that commuters are frequently made to wait for 15 to 30 minutes and are met with unruly behaviour from toll staff.
NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav attended the meeting, where members also discussed structural issues related to the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway. The officials acknowledged most of the concerns raised by members and assured them that corrective measures were being taken, said sources.
Venugopal questioned the authority’s toll collection policy, saying that until 2023, toll charges were reduced to 40 per cent once a highway project’s construction cost had been recovered. He said the provision was removed in 2023, allowing full toll collection to continue indefinitely.
Referring to a CAG report, Venugopal said the NHAI does not maintain project-wise accounts to separately track toll revenues. He also highlighted discrepancies between FASTag data and actual vehicle traffic, raising concerns that private toll operators could underreport collections and continue charging tolls beyond the justified period.
Venugopal also flagged extensive subcontracting in projects such as Kerala’s NH-66. In response, the Ministry informed the committee that under a new policy, any subcontract exceeding eight per cent of a project’s value would require prior approval from NHAI.
He further raised the issue of poor drainage along the national highway in Alappuzha, which has led to flooding of houses on both sides of the road. Venugopal said local MPs, MLAs and civic authorities were not consulted while preparing the project. NHAI assured the committee that local stakeholders would be involved while preparing future DPRs.
