New Delhi: Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday warned contractors, Indian or foreign, the govt would blacklist them and initiate strict action for poor maintenance of highway stretches.
“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,” Gadkari said while participating in a mega plantation event in Duhai in the National Capital Region (NCR).
The minister’s warning came after he noticed poor maintenance of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) that he took to reach Ghaziabad to participate in the event. “I used the EPE after a long time… The office bearers of associations are sitting here (in the audience at the event), roads should be well-maintained. I saw the road today, it’s very poorly maintained. We will not spare you,” Gadkari said.
The minister said he and two junior ministers will travel on highway stretches, visit the roadside amenities and take action against non-performers. Gadkari said while the govt will reward the good performers, the bad ones would be “driven out of the system”.
In his address, the minister highlighted the pace of highway development across the country, particularly in NCR. He also highlighted the need for pro-environment policies and initiatives such as biofuel. He said that the transport ministry has a bigger responsibility to take measures to mitigate air pollution as the transport sector is one of the biggest contributors.
