Centre directs States to remove encroachments from national highways

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in a letter to the state governments said “The Control of National Highways (Land & Traffic) Act, 2002 has empowered the NH officers to take action against encroachments but still there are lot of encroachments on NH land”

“It has been brought to the notice of the ministry that national highways are being encroached upon by dhabas, vegetable sellers, etc. “

“Encroachment of NH land whether of permanent nature or of a temporary nature is a matter of grave concern for traffic management and operations and future up-gradation projects” the statement added

The ministry requested that “field units may be adequately sensitized to prevent encroachments on National Highways and launch periodical drives to remove all sorts of encroachments from NH land”

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According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, over 1.55 lakh lives were lost in road crashes across India in 2021 — an average of 426 daily or 18 every single hour — which is the highest death figures recorded in any calendar year so far.

Road safety has been a major priority of the central government lately. In September, Road Transport and Highways minister Nitin Gadkari during a session with state transport ministers directed all state transport ministers and officials in working together to reduce road accidents and deaths by 50% in 2024.

The Union Minister has now set a target of 60 km of highways per day for good road infrastructure and to create prosperity as well as prosperity. At an event organized by the Entrepreneurs’ Organisation Gurugram Chapter, Gadkari said, “We are constructing 40 kilometers of highways per day, our target is to construct 60 kilometers of highways per day,”

Earlier, the Union Minister had directed the state governments for speedy implementation of the public transportation tracking system under the Nirbhaya Framework.

He urged “all the States/UTs to ensure speedy implementation of the scheme for setting up Monitoring Centres under Nirbhaya Framework which will give the much needed impetus to the women safety,”