The Department of Roads issues guidelines for public consultation on highway projects after the Public Accounts Committee makes recommendations

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Taking into account the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts headed by Congress leader KC Venugopal, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways informed the panel that it has issued guidelines for structured public consultation on all future highway projects at the stage of preparation of detailed project report (DPR).

A mandatory provision for public consultation has been incorporated in the revised Request for Proposal (RFP) document for inviting bids from consultants for the preparation of the DPR.

For all brownfield projects, the ministry informed the panel that there will be consultations with the municipal sarpanch, the mayor or chairman of the municipal authority, the district magistrate and the public works department. In addition, local MLAs and MPs will be consulted for greenfield projects.

The panel, in earlier meetings, expressed concern that highways are often built by subcontractors who are not listed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and who do not always adhere to prescribed standards. In Wednesday’s meeting (July 15, 2026), NHAI informed the committee that it has introduced a requirement for all subcontractors carrying out work worth 8% or more of the total project cost to register with it.

Mr. Venugopal reflected on the shortcomings of what the members described as insufficient facilities at toll booths and pulled up both the NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Pointing out that NHAI, through the amendment of the National Road Charges Rules, 2023, enabled a continuous toll collection system that benefited the concessionaires, he said similar attention was not paid to the concerns of commuters.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Ravi Shankar Prasad pointed out that ambulances, which had to be stationed at toll booths, were often missing, leading to delays in emergency response on highways, sources said. BJP MP Anurag Thakur raised concerns about the behavior of staff at toll plazas and said they needed better training in dealing with commuters.

Mr Venugopal also raised the issue of under-reporting of traffic by concessionaires, citing an audit report which found that FASTag records in several cases showed traffic volumes up to 69% higher than those recorded in the concessionaires’ books.

Responding to the issue, NHAI informed the panel that the pilot project using automatic number plate recognition system is working at five toll booths and will be expanded to more locations. The system is expected to solve several problems, including under-reporting of traffic, which is currently leading to lost revenue to the state exchequer, according to officials.

Published – 15 Jul 2026 23:06 IST