Gujarat: The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has taken swift and stern action after reports surfaced of pavement crust distress on the newly constructed Sanchore–Santalpur stretch of the Amritsar–Jamnagar Economic Corridor (NH-754K). Turns out, when it rains on highways, sometimes it pours… suspension letters.
The affected stretch — a 6-lane, 130 km marvel through Gujarat — found itself facing not just potholes but a full-blown credibility crack. While the corridor was meant to carry economic ambitions at top speed, it stumbled over 10 patches on the Left Hand Side (1.35 km) and 5 patches on the Right Hand Side (1.36 km), where the pavement crust decided to… well, flake out.
Preliminary investigations pointed fingers at defects in the Aggregate Inter Layer (AIL), Cement Treated Base (CTB), and poor drainage — or as engineers might now call it, the unholy trinity of roadwork doom.
In response, NHAI acted with the urgency of a highway patrol spotting an over-speeding truck.
- The contractor, M/s CDS Infra Projects Ltd, has been debarred from all current and future NHAI bids, and served a Show Cause Notice with a Rs. 2.8 crore penalty.
- The Authority’s Engineer, M/s SA Infra (with M/s Upham), has also been shown the exit ramp from all future engagements.
- And the NHAI Project Director at Palanpur has been suspended, presumably with enough time now to reflect on load-bearing ratios.
In a move that screams both accountability and academia, Expert Committees featuring esteemed professors from IIT-BHU, IIT-Delhi, and IIT-Gandhinagar have been deployed. These minds are currently collecting samples, inspecting the site, and presumably using terms like “subgrade failure” and “shear stress anomalies” to describe what the rest of us call “bad roads.”
The project, built under the Engineering Procurement & Construction (EPC) mode, has not yet been granted its Completion Certificate — which now seems less like a delay and more like divine foresight.
In good news (relatively speaking), the contractor has already begun rectification work — free of charge and presumably with a lot more supervision this time.
NHAI is making it clear: if your crust crumbles, so does your contract. Because in the world of expressways, there’s no fast lane for faulty foundations.
