Poor maintenance of NH routes will lead to blacklisting, strict action: Gadkari | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday warned contractors, both Indian and foreign, that the government would blacklist them and take strict action against poor maintenance of motorway sections.
“Now we want to make a report of the retiring non-performing officers and blacklist contractors who fail to do good work and maintain routes with them after we have created records in highway construction. We will not spare bad highway builders. We will ensure that 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 officials of the associations are sitting here (in the audience at the event), roads should be properly maintained. I saw the road today, it is very poorly maintained. We will not spare you,” Gadkari said.
The minister said he and two junior ministers will travel along highway stretches, visit roadside facilities and take action against non-performers. Gadkari said the government will reward good performers but the bad ones will be “driven out of the system”.
In his speech, the minister emphasized the pace of highway development across the country, especially in NCR. He also stressed the need for pro-environmental policies and initiatives like biofuel. He said the transport ministry has a greater responsibility to take measures to reduce air pollution as the transport sector is one of the biggest contributors.