Local NHAI officials can now take up road repair work

GURUGRAM: Local officials of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) can now take up road improvement and rectification work and spend up to ₹25 lakh for the purpose. The authority had last week given financial powers to local officials in order to ensure that road rectifying works are taken up at the earliest, and without waiting for approval from the headquarters, officials said.

As per the new guidelines of the authority, project directors are now delegated with the power to undertake rectification of accident-prone spots identified and recommended by the respective state police chiefs or by the district road safety committees and spend an amount of ₹10 lakh per spot. In addition, the authority said that short-term measures costing between ₹10 lakh and up to ₹25 lakh can be taken up by the concerned regional officers.

Local NHAI officials said the move will help in taking up road repair and maintenance works on an urgent basis.

As per the NHAI, the works that can be taken up using these delegated powers include installation of pedestrian facilities such as zebra crossings with advanced warning signs, setting up crash barriers and railings, junction improvements, solar lights/ blinkers, road signages, implementation of traffic calming measures and road repairs.

Dheeraj Singh, project director, NHAI, Rewari project implement unit (PIU), said the delegation of financial powers will enable local officers to take immediate steps for road repair and they can also take emergency steps to ensure smooth movement of traffic.

“We will be able to take up works which are emergency in nature and require immediate deployment of resources. This could be repair of a damaged stretch, deploying pumping machinery and rectification of black spots identified by the local authorities,” Singh said.

Singh said that earlier it took around a week for such works to be sanctioned as estimates were prepared and sent to the headquarters and approvals were sought for the same. “This will empower the local officials to take immediate steps to ensure that road rectification measures are taken on an immediate basis,” he said.

The NHAI, meanwhile, said that these financial powers are over and above the guidelines issued earlier by the authority, where project directors can approve rectification of black spots notified by the ministry of road transport and highways through short term measures and spend up to an amount of ₹25 lakh per black spot.

The authority further said that the decision to delegate financial powers has been taken to enhance road safety on the national highways (NHs).

The rectification of black spots is crucial for a city such as Gurugram as the district administration had identified 18 black spots on the Delhi Gurugram Expressway in December last year, where maximum fatalities and accidents had taken place. These include Shankar Chowk, Rajiv Chowk, Hero Honda Chowk, Iffco Chowk, KMP toll crossing, Sidhrawali cut, Manesar bus stand, Signature Chowk, Sarhaul toll, Ambience mall, Kherki Daula, Bilaspur Chowk, Pachgaon, Narsinghpur cut and IMT Chowk. The authorities had called for measures to rectify these black spots to prevent accidents.