Advertisement
What really powers the cloud? Behind every Google search, A...
A lot of what defines a home isn’t visible at handover. I...
Private equity has played a significant role in shaping Indi...
Luxury real estate is one of the most talked-about segments ...
Airports play a much bigger role than just enabling travel -...
A total of 629 out of 1,191 under-construction national highway projects have exceeded their original completion schedules, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Parliament in the past week. In separate replies to the Rajya Sabha, the minister also said 103 contractors and concessionaires were blacklisted or penalised between FY24 and FY26 for poor-quality highway construction. The government is implementing a phased rollout of Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) across 52,647 km of four-lane and wider national highways and expressways. Gadkari also said 6,358 black corridors have been identified using AI-based tools, while more than 77 lakh FASTag Annual Passes had been issued by June 2026.
As many as 629 national highway projects have exceeded their original completion timelines out of 1,191 projects currently under construction, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari informed the Rajya Sabha in the past week.
In a written reply to Parliament, Gadkari said there are 1,191 National Highway (NH) projects under construction that have not yet reached any stage of completion. Of these, 629 projects have spilled beyond their originally scheduled completion dates. The minister, however, did not specify the reasons for the delays.
In a separate written response, Gadkari said the government had taken action against contractors for quality-related issues in highway construction. Between FY24 and FY26, a total of 103 contractors and concessionaires were blacklisted or penalised for poor-quality execution of national highway projects.
The minister also outlined the government's plans to modernise highway operations through the phased deployment of Advanced Traffic Management Systems (ATMS) across all four-lane and above national highways and expressways, covering approximately 52,647 km of the network.
According to Gadkari, the implementation plan includes the establishment of local, regional and national command and control centres to facilitate centralised monitoring, traffic analytics, incident management and coordinated emergency response. The government is also introducing a Unified ATMS Software Platform with standardised protocols to improve interoperability, data integration, traffic enforcement and performance management across the national highway network.
Addressing road safety, Gadkari informed Parliament that based on accident data available through the Electronic Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR) system for the 2023–2025 period, authorities have identified 6,358 black corridors across the country.
He explained that these black corridors comprise continuous stretches of national highways that meet the criteria for accident-prone locations, with repeated occurrences of fatal and grievous injury accidents. The corridors have been identified in real time using artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools, enabling authorities to prioritise safety interventions.
The minister also provided an update on the FASTag-based Annual Pass scheme for non-commercial cars, jeeps and vans, which came into effect on 15 August 2025. Under the scheme, motorists can activate an annual pass by paying INR 3,075 for FY27, allowing travel through all national highway and national expressway toll plazas for one year or up to 200 toll plaza crossings, whichever occurs first.
As of June 2026, more than 77 lakh Annual Passes had been issued, accounting for approximately 63 crore transactions at national highway toll plazas. Gadkari added that Annual Pass users currently account for around 33% of all electronic toll collection (ETC) transactions made by cars, jeeps and vans on the national highway network.
Source - PTI
Advertisement
Facebook
Whatsapp
