Decongest key stretches on NHs: PM to road minister

Dipak.Dash
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday asked the road transport ministry to take steps to decongest critical stretches on national highways for quicker movement of vehicles, particularly those carrying cargo.
Sources said that taking note of some congestion points, particularly chungis (tax collection points), PM wanted such spots to be fixed.Some of these locations on NH-2 are Mohania on UP-Bihar border, Naubatpur in Uttar Pradesh and Chirkunda in Jharkhand.
Origin-destination studies conducted by the ministry and Niti Aayog have identified other similar spots where traffic jams are common.
Meanwhile, National Highways Authority of India and the engineering wing of road transport ministry have been asked to prepare the list of encroachments on all land that belong to highway authorities. "The directions were issued at a senior officers meeting chaired by the secretary on Monday. Such a list will help us take necessary steps to plan removal of such encroachments and we can plan action before works for widening is awarded. There are encroachments on our right of way (RoW)," said a ministry official.
According to the PMO, Modi has also stressed on the need to study various models of road development across the country, and adopt the best practices, so that more private investment can be brought into the highway construction sector. He also stressed on the need to adopt latest technologies for toll collection.