House panel slams PlanCom for 'road blocks'

A parliamentary committee on transport says the Planning Commission is needlessly interfering in the road transport and highways ministry’s operations.

The panel, chaired by Communist Party of India (Marxist) member Sitaram Yechury, has also rapped the model concession agreement for highway projects prepared by the Commission, asked asked the ministry to speed up the awarding of projects under government funding.

“The Commission, instead of promoting and facilitating highways construction, is alleged to have been exceeding its brief. The committee feels the Commission’s overbearing attitude is causing unease among line ministries. The Commission should refrain from commenting upon engineering and technical aspects,” went the report of the standing committee on transport, tabled in Parliament on Thursday.

Adding: “The committee recommends that the concessionaire agreement devised by the Planning Commission be reformulated in concurrence with the roads ministry to address local conditions and changing circumstances.”

It has said the public-private-partnership model of road development needed to be reviewed,  in the wake of private developers withdrawing from projects. It has asked the ministry to award more projects under the government-funded mode. And, asked the government to increase its allocation for the ministry, saying what is currently allotted is not adequate to meet the targets.

It has not raised a query on the delay in setting up a roads regulator, announced in the Union budget last year. The regulator was to be brought in to address various issues embroiled in litigation and arbitration, worth about Rs 17,000 crore.

The committee has also asked the government to increase allocation for the road transport sector, including schemes on road safety, driving training and the National Highways accident relief scheme.