The road ministry continuously inspects that NH is mandatory to ensure no encroachment. Bharat News
New Delhi: The Ministry of Road Transport has continuously inspected the highway stretch for engineers and officials to ensure that there is no encroachment of these corridors. In addition, videography has also been made mandatory to collect regular updates using drones.Encroachers will have to pay for the removal of unauthorized businesses as well as an additional fee and expenses in removing a penalty.The Ministry has issued a detailed standard operating process (SOP) after the direction of the Supreme Court on a pile highlighting encroachments on NH networks, which causes congestion and is a factor for road accidents.The SOP stated that NHS remain free from unauthorized occupation and safe, it is “mandatory” from all inspection officers’ ministry and its implementation agencies – NHAI and NHIDCL’s inspection officers – * to find out such a violation and immediately bring them to the information of the concerned authorities. Officers will have to upload inspection notes along with visual and other evidence on the specified portal.The ministry has specified that every regional officer of the ministry and its agencies will have to inspect the stretch under its jurisdiction at least once in three months. Project directors and engineers heading project implementation units need to inspect the stretch under them every month.It has also been said that the contractors and supervision advisors are also responsible for detection and removal of encroachments as per the law. They should report such cases to the engineers or officers concerned for quick action.For objective monitoring, highway agencies will conduct drone survey and receive aerial imaging and upload them on the specified portal. While the quarterly drone survey has been made mandatory during construction, the practice will be a monthly routine on highways passing through urban borders with more than one lakh population. In low -populated urban borders and rural areas, it will be done every three and six months respectively.The SOP has also specified how the highway officials will report and how to report the case with local administrative and police officers, and they can also implement the jurisdiction of the District Magistrates, to remove the encroachments.According to the National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, the highway administration is responsible for regulating the highway and their removal cost and fines, to regulate the right to access to the highway and traffic.
