NEW DELHI: The govt has imposed a Rs 302-crore penalty on highway contractors and consultants for poor quality work, failure of infrastructure and other reasons in the last three years. While 50 firms have been barred from participating in the tendering process or have been terminated; penalty has been imposed on 27 entities.In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari submitted, “Further, 11 officers were removed from service on account of performance assessment and other disciplinary actions taken on 11 officers.”Officials also said that around 60 more officers, who were on deputation in National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), have also been repatriated prematurely to their parent cadre as part of the clean-up drive. Complaints against poor quality construction and maintenance have become a major cause of concern in the highway sector and officials said now there is a huge focus to put everything in order.In response to a question from AAP’s Ashok Kumar Mittal on the reasons behind delays in completion of projects, the ministry said issues and bottlenecks related to land acquisition, statutory clearances, permissions, utility shifting, encroachment removal, law and order issues, financial crunch affecting implementation capacity of contractors have been the major factors impacting project timelines. It said that focus on better monitoring of project progress and meetings with chief secretaries of states to resolve issues have helped NHAI and other highway owning agencies to bring down the number of projects delayed by more than three years from 152 in April 2024 to 85 on November 30.
