Highways to hell

On 13 July, the 63 kilometre Lucknow–Kanpur Expressway was inaugurated with much fanfare by three BJP bigwigs: UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, defence minister Rajnath Singh, and road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari.

Thirteen days later, on 26 July, the Rs 4,300 crore expressway had developed cracks. Heavy rainfall peeled away the asphalt, surface subsidence followed. Pedestal fans were brought in to dry the wet patches. NHAI responded with a flurry of ‘corrective actions’: toll collection was suspended (until repairs were done) as were the construction firm PNC Infratech and three project engineers. Videos on social media revealed the extent of damage, with heavy machinery still hard at work, and traffic restricted to a single carriageway in the worst spots.

“What’s the point of suspending toll or calling in IIT Kharagpur for a probe to determine the failure of this project when our safety is jeopardised every single day?” an angry, harassed commuter asked.

On 16 August, a massive landslide brought traffic to a standstill on the Darmathal–Dewal stretch of the four-lane Jammu–Srinagar National Highway in the Udhampur–Chenani sector. Not for the first time.

“What kind of construction is this?” asked Baramulla-based fruit merchant Ghulam Ali, who was stuck in the snarl. “What’s the use of four lanes, when we can only use one?”

On 17 August, three-and-a-half months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Rs 36,000 crore, 594 km Ganga Expressway, a ten-metre-deep crater opened up. What about the 213 km Delhi-Dehradun expressway, built at a cost of Rs 12,000 crore, using sophisticated Japanese technology that would — or so the brag went — last over 100 years? Cave-ins and potholes in just two months.

Tagging the PM, a commuter wrote on X, ‘This is the Delhi–Dehradun Expressway, inaugurated by you [on 19 April] … It took around five years to build, yet it hasn’t even seen its first monsoon. Look at the pathetic condition. People are forced to stand in the middle of the expressway to warn speeding vehicles about these massive potholes, which could easily turn fatal. What kind of roads are private contractors building despite collecting such high tolls from the public?'

The much-touted 890 km Char Dham Pariyojana to widen Garhwal’s fragile mountain roads into 12 metre, double-lane highways — to ‘facilitate travel for pilgrims’ — went ahead despite experts warning of landslide risks. A recent survey using GPS to map landslide locations found that a landslide occurs roughly every two kilometres along the Rishikesh–Badrinath route.

It’s not just religious tourists. Locals too are endangered by land subsidence caused by the frequent use of dynamite. Where once the rainy season meant minor rockfalls and occasional landslides, locals say it now feels as though entire mountain slopes are collapsing.

The Mumbai–Delhi Expressway, another ‘stellar project’, has faced repeated delays, with shoddy construction emerging as a key concern. The ministry of road transport and highways was forced to act against contractors after a viral video showed cars flying into the air — thanks to an unexpected road depression in a newly built section near Package 9 — and suffering severe damage on touchdown.

After one carriageway opened in February 2026, officials identified pavement distress — including rutting — across two sections, measuring 4 and 3 km respectively, raising fresh questions about the quality and oversight of the project.

The official response was: “Micro-milling work is currently being carried out on the affected stretches to level the road surface, improve ride quality, and ensure safe and uninterrupted traffic.” Yeah, sure.

What about the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Sewri-Nhava Sheva Atal Setu, better known as the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL)? The ‘longest sea bridge in the country’ is under scrutiny after cracks appeared on the exit towards Ulwe in Navi Mumbai.

In Kerala, the NHAI is facing flak over the condition of service roads along the 17 km Edappally–Aroor NH 66 bypass, one of the state’s busiest highway corridors. The worst-hit stretch — Edappally Overbridge to Edappally Junction and Palarivattom — has deteriorated further as NHAI’s flyover-cum-underpass project drags on for more than a year.

A senior traffic police officer has called for urgent action by the NHAI. “The agency that collects tolls has not undertaken repairs, despite massive traffic snarls being caused by potholes that riddle the main carriageway and the choppy expansion joints on the Vyttila railway overbridge. Potholes abound even atop the Palarivattom flyover,” he added.

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Nitin Gadkari had boasted that India’s roads would match America’s by 2024, aided by ‘space technology’. Since 2014, he has overseen the expansion of the National Highway network from 0.91 lakh km to 1.46 lakh km. Apparently, these high-speed highway corridors would fuel India’s transformation into a $30 trillion economy by 2047. Does that explain NHAI’s massive funding? It’s budgetary allocation for FY2025-26 was Rs 2,38,384 crore.

The CAG has repeatedly flagged NHAI for granting undue benefits to contractors by reducing penalties and deviating from concession agreements. Toll-rule violations have cost road users over Rs 180 crore. More damningly, NHAI officials have reportedly been linked to fraudulent service-tax refunds worth hundreds of crores in exchange for contracts to favoured firms.

At a recent media interaction, Gadkari was on the backfoot when he said, “There are 72 lakh kilometres of roads in India. I’m responsible for just 1.5 lakh kilometres of national highways. If the issue is on my road, I won’t spare the contractor or the officer. If the mistake is bona fide, I forgive. If it’s fraudulent, I punish.” (Note the ‘forgiveness’ angle, which ignores the unforgivable risks to those who use ‘his roads’.)

“Every year, we have 4 lakh 80,000 road accidents, and 1 lakh 80,000 deaths, probably the highest in the world,” he admitted. “Of these, 66.4 per cent are in the age group of 18 to 45. There is a 3 per cent loss in GDP. The loss of young people who are doctors, engineers and, very importantly, talented youth, is actually a great loss for our country.”

Who would have thought? And how does he propose to keep his promise to halve these road accident fatalities by 2030? How does passing the buck to other agencies such as the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corp help, when all of them either function under his ministry or work in close collaboration with the NHAI?

Who is ultimately accountable? While there have been instances of action against private contractors, disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against government officials in a grand total of two cases.

In damage-control mode, Gadkari recently told the Rajya Sabha that 55 incidents of structural damage or collapse were reported on NHAI-built roads, bridges and highways over the last five years. Of these, 40 occurred during construction and the rest after completion. The disclosure came in response to Congress MP Digvijaya Singh’s question on who is held accountable when infrastructure fails.

This data excludes incidents on projects executed by other agencies under the ministry as well as those undertaken by state PWDs and other central bodies and ministries. What of the Silkyara tunnel collapse in Uttarakhand in November 2023, in which 41 workers were trapped for 17 harrowing days? Or the 13 August Chamoli tunnel collapse in Uttarakhand’s Tehri Hydro Development Corporation’s Vishnugad–Pipalkoti hydroelectric project, which killed ten workers with one still missing after days of rescue operations?