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National Highways
State-owned NHAI on Tuesday said it has sought urgent intervention from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and Trai to improve mobile network connectivity on National Highways. NHAI in a statement said as part of a comprehensive assessment undertaken by the state-owned agency, 424 locations covering about 1,750 km across the National Highway network have been identified as critically affected due to non-availability of the mobile network connectivity. "Identifying critical mobile network connectivity issues across several stretches of National Highways, NHAI has sought the intervention of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to issue appropriate directions to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for addressing non-availability of the mobile network connectivity on several stretches of National Highways, particularly on greenfield and remote sections," it said. Emphasising public safety implications and the strategic ...
West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Saturday unveiled national highway projects worth Rs 3,200 crore in West Bengal with an aim to boost economic activities and tourism in the state. Bose officially launched the projects from Netaji Park in Taherpur area of Nadia district instead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was initially supposed to unveil the development projects from the ground, but whose helicopter failed to land in the area on account of insufficient visibility due to dense fog over the region. Modi was forced to return to the Kolkata airport from where he later addressed the crowd in a virtual audio mode. Bose inaugurated the 66.7 km-long four-laning of the Barajaguli-Krishnanagar section of NH-34 in Nadia district, while he laid the foundation stone for the four-laning of the Barasat-Barajaguli stretch of the highway in the adjacent district of North 24 Parganas. It has remained our constant endeavour to ensure modern connectivity to those far-flung areas of Benga
As many as 574 under construction National Highway projects worth Rs 3.60 lakh crore have exceeded their completion schedule, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that out of 574 delayed highway projects awarded in the last five years, 300 are facing delay of less than one year, 253 projects 1-3 years and 21 projects over 3 years. Gadkari also said 133 NH projects with total cost of about Rs 1 lakh crore have been awarded but appointed date could not be declared pending fulfilment of pre-requisite conditions like availability of encumbrance free land and clearances by forest and wildlife departments. He said the ministry has taken various steps to streamline land acquisition process by leveraging the mechanism of review and resolution of bottlenecks / hindrances in ongoing projects, in active collaboration with the state governments and other stakeholders. Responding to a separate question, the road transport
The Union Cabinet has approved the construction of a six-lane access-controlled capital region ring road (Bhubaneswar Bypass) in Odisha on Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) at a total capital cost of Rs 8,307.74 crore, I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday. Currently, connectivity between Rameshwar and Tangi on the existing National Highway experience significant congestion due to high traffic volumes, passing through highly urbanised cities Khordha, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. To address these challenges, the 110 km-long project is proposed to be developed as a 6-lane access-controlled greenfield highway, an official statement said. "The project will provide significant benefit to Odisha and other eastern States by diverting heavy commercial traffic away from Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Khordha Cities. This will enhance the efficiency of freight movement, reducing logistics cost and driving socio-economic growth in the region," it said. The project alignment integrates with three major
The newly introduced FASTag annual pass facility has crossed the landmark figure of five lakh users across the country within four days, an official statement said on Monday. FASTag annual pass, applicable on about 1,150 toll collection booths on National Highways and expressways allowing users to cross 200 toll plazas in a year for a one-time payment of Rs 3,000, was launched on August 15. The facility has received an overwhelming response from the National Highway users across the country. Tamil Nadu led with the maximum number of annual pass purchases in the last four days, followed by Karnataka and Haryana, the statement said. Besides, maximum transactions through FASTag annual pass were recorded at toll plazas in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, it added. The pass is applicable for all non-commercial vehicles with a valid FASTag and gets activated within two hours of the one-time payment using Rajmargyatra app or the NHAI website.
The pace of National Highways construction in India slowed to 29 km/day in the last fiscal, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, said the pace of National Highways construction during 2023-24 stood at 34 km/day. The highest-ever pace was recorded in 2020-21, when it reached 37 km per day. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways (NHs), including National Expressways. The ministry had constructed 10,660 km length of national highways in 2024-25, 12,349 km length of national highways in 2023-24 and 10,331 km length of national highways in 2022-23. Gadkari said all the NHs development projects, including development of access-controlled High Speed Corridors (HSC) / Expressways, are planned in line with PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP) Principles. "The government has constructed 10,660 km of NHs duri
The government has reduced the toll rates up to 50 per cent for the sections of National Highways that have structures like tunnels, bridges, flyovers or elevated stretches, a move which will lower travelling cost for motorists. User charges at fee plazas on National Highways are collected as per NH Fee Rules, 2008. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has made amendment to 2008 rules and notified a new method or formula for calculating toll charges. "The rate of fee for use of a section of national highway comprising of structure or structures shall be calculated by adding ten times the length of structure or structures to the length of the section of national highway excluding the length of structure or structures, or five times the total length of section of national highway, whichever is lesser," said the notification dated July 2, 2025. 'Structure' means an independent bridge, tunnel or flyover or elevated highway. To explain the new toll charges, the ministry has cited