Officials of MoRTH, NHAI, NHIDCL to be responsible for non-compliance with quality measures

Officers and engineers of regional offices of the MoRTH, NHAI and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited will be made responsible for non-compliance with quality control measures and specifications in the construction of road and bridges on national highways. In its recent circular, MoRTH has declared that such officers and engineers will face major or minor penalties in case there are more than three instances of proven negligence over norms for supervision, or failure of structure during construction or operation. So far, the authorities have only been penalising contractors, independent engineers and consultants supervising the work for any such failure. As per the circular, project directors and regional officers will have to carry out monthly inspections of all projects (bimonthly in the case of a project costing more than Rs 3 billion or a project involving a major bridge).