Plans afoot to include early oversight in highway building

The ministry of road transport and highways has planned to include construction of flyovers and underpasses early in the life of a highway project rather than tagging them at a later stage, as it tries to make dangerous Indian roads safer. It is also looking to make installation of CCTVs mandatory at the construction stage itself to monitor the progress of highway projects as per specifications and terms of agreement. A proposal to include construction of underpasses and flyovers at the DPR stage is being considered for uninterrupted flow of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic for every village and town near a highway as well as at accident-prone junctions.

The parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture in its recent report to Parliament also stressed on the need to make Indian roads safer. The committee suggested the need to save lives of both pedestrians and vehicle users through improved road construction and planning. It also pointed to the need to monitor progress of work at highway construction using CCTVs. Doing so would permit round-the-clock ground-level monitoring of the progress being made in ongoing road projects and inculcate fear amongst wrongdoers. Sources said that though the plan was still under discussion, the CCTV project may be implemented with funds available under the Nirbhaya scheme for women’s safety. Provision of additional features in a highway project may add to the total project cost that could mean longer periods of tolling or bigger government compensation packages.