Times of
India: Ropar: Thursday, September 12, 2019.
Sought
the information under the RTI Act from the NHAI and got to know about this fact
that the company was not meeting the required norms
The
National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) had imposed a penalty of Rs 30 crore
on a toll plaza at Behrampur in Ropar district for not maintaining operation
and maintenance norms. The toll plaza is situated on Kurali-Kiratpur Sahib
highway and the project to maintain the road according to the agreement is
being run by a private company on Kurali road. The company has been running the
project for years and collecting toll from commuters.
In
2016, the NHAI after the inspection had asked the toll plaza company to meet
the requirements of operation and maintenance of the toll road. In August, the
NHAI under clause18.13 of concession agreement for deficiencies and
non-compliance of operation and maintenance requirements, sought damages of
around Rs 29 crore up to June 30 from the company. Besides this, a penalty
amounting to Rs 62 lakh up to July 15 were sought for non-compliance to
operation and maintenance observations.
Suleman,
manager at Behrampur toll plaza, did not answer phone calls and messages
despite repeated attempts.
The
inspection report found that there were no road studs or cat eyes, delineators,
kerb painting, pavement marking, earthwork for shoulders on both sides of the
highway. Besides this, only 37% work was done on bituminous concrete (BC) for
main carriage way (MCW), bus lay bay, truck lay bay, median opening, link roads
and only 26% work done on BC for service-road. No dense bitumen macadam (DBM)
for MCW was done while around 60% track-coat work was also not done.
“In
October 2018, the NHAI also served a show-cause notice on the toll plaza
company, maintaining that there was a lack of operation and maintenance on the
highway and the company should submit reasons why the project should not be
cancelled. However, there was no action taken by the NHAI after this letter. I
sought the information under the RTI Act from the NHAI and got to know about
this fact that the company was not meeting the required norms. According to
legality, the company’s project needs to be cancelled and they cannot collect
the toll from commuters on the highway,” said RTI activist and advocate Dinesh
Chadda from Ropar.
He
said that the condition of Nakkia toll plaza on Kiratpur-Nangal under the NHAI
was also the same as the road was in a dilapidated condition and did not meet
the required norms according to the agreement.
Deputy
commissioner, Ropar, Sumeet Jarangal said during the recent Lok Sabha elections
a complaint regarding no service road was received at his office, following
which he had written a letter to the NHAI authorities to get the road
constructed.
.JPG)
.JPG)
