Centre begins month-long campaign to remove illegal occupations on highways
NEW DELHI: In a major push to make highways encroachment free, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has launched a special month-long campaign to identify and clear unauthorised occupations along National Highways across the country. The drive, which began on December 1, aims to improve road safety and ensure smoother traffic movement. According to the officials, all Regional Officers (ROs) of the ministry, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) have been directed to carry out extensive inspections of the highway stretches under their jurisdiction. Encroachments are to be identified through field surveys, drone-based monitoring, the RajmargYatra mobile app and media reports. Officials have also been asked to issue preliminary notices along with photographic evidence as prescribed under the Standard Operating Procedure (SoP). The ministry, in an official note issued recently, further asked officials to undertake efforts for compliance of the preliminary notice in coordination with local administration and bodies and upload the information with photographic evidence on the link generated with the regard to the special encroachment removal drive. Cases that need further legal intervention will be referred to District Magistrates under Section 26 of the Act. The secretary, MoRTH expressed serious concern over the presence of squatters and unauthorised occupation along the national highways. Hence he directed to initiate a nationwide drive to make highways encroachment free. It requires coordinated action by all agencies. The government has recently strengthened enforcement by reconstituting the Highway Administration and delegating wider powers under the Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002, said NHAI officials. The penalties--as per the Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Act, 2002--include fines of up to Rs 500 per square metre of encroached land, or in cases where this is less than the lands cost, an equivalent amount to the land value. Costs for removal and repair will also be recovered from violators. As part of its ongoing efforts to make national highways safer and obstruction-free, the ministry, in August, issued a fresh Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for identification, reporting, and removal of unauthorised occupations on national highways. The new guidelines also outline the recovery of costs incurred for removal of unauthorised occupation and strengthening measures for traffic regulation. As per the SoP, the agencies are required to carry out inspection of highways at regular intervals; at least once every three months at the regional level and once a month at the divisional or project level. Contractors, concessionaires and supervision consultants were also directed to remain vigilant against encroachments and report them promptly. For better monitoring, the SoP makes drone surveys and aerial imaging mandatory. The SoP also mandates the creation of a dedicated Drone Analytics Management System for monthly monitoring of encroachments using satellite imagery and drone data. In a report earlier, the parliamentary standing committee on transport, tourism and culture-- highlighted clogging of highways due to local markets, shops, hotels, parking of trucks at nights--recommended to create an effective policy to curb the encroachment.
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