2 weeks Ago By Dipak K Dash
NEW DELHI: Two Opposition MPs from Rajasthan on Thursday cornered the Centre over defects on the Delhi-Dausa stretch of the recently opened corridor of the Mumbai Expressway, and asked whether the norms for building such a capital intensive road were strictly followed. Union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, in his response, said an investigation by experts from two IITs has pointed to quality issues in the top layer of some sections of this corridor, and relaying of the affected stretches will be completed in the next three months. In response to a question from Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP) MP Hanuman Beniwal in Lok Sabha, Gadkari said notices have been issued to four highway contractors and they will be blacklisted after getting the final investigation report.
He said action will be taken against officers and independent engineers. “We have created seven world records in the highway sector, now there will be a record of actions against erring contractors and non-performing officers,” he said. Gadkari claimed that the expressway is the country’s longest and is being constructed in the shortest time.
Beniwal said the defects on the expressway, less than two years after its opening, has exposed the govt’s claims of creating world-class infrastructure. Just sending notices to contractors and officials was not enough, he said. Gadkari said it was for the first time that a new technology, in terms of perpetual pavement with wearing course of stone mastic asphalt (SMA), was introduced on this stretch and added that the contractors are responsible for fixing defects for 10 years at their own cost.
“Investigations have found that there were deficiencies in the SMA layer, resulting in rutting. But layers below it are intact and up to mark. There was no compromise on the quality of the material and the total thickness of all the bituminous layers was nearly the same as the design thickness,” he said.
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