News Analysis India

Tag: National Highways Authority of India

  • Centre effects major bureaucratic reshuffle, Alka Upadhyaya appointed NHAI chief

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Senior bureaucrat Alka Upadhyaya has been appointed as the chairperson of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) as part of a major bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre on Saturday.

    Upadhyaya, a 1990-batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, is currently Additional Secretary, Department of Rural Development.

    Sanjay Bandopadhyay, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, has been named chairman, Inland Waterways Authority of India, a Personnel Ministry order said.

    Dharmendra S Gangwar, Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, will be Secretary, Department of Border Management, and Sundeep Kumar Nayak has been appointed as Director General, National Productivity Council, Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade.

    Upma Srivastava, a 1988-batch IAS officer of Sikkim cadre, has been named Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

    Juthika Patankar, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, has been appointed as Secretary, Central Information Commission.

    Anita Praveen, Special Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, will be Special Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

    She will take over as Secretary of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries upon superannuation of Pushpa Subramanyam next month-end.

    Amit Yadav, Director General, Directorate General of Foreign Trade, has been moved as Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, the order said.

    Ashish Srivastava, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, has been appointed Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.

    G Asok Kumar, Mission Director, National Water Mission, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, will be Director General, National Mission for Clean Ganga.

    Neelam Shammi Rao has been appointed as Central Provident Fund Commissioner, Employees’ Provident Fund Organization, Amit Agrawal will be Additional Secretary, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, and Deepti Umashankar as Establishment Officer & Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training.

    Vivek Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Department of Revenue.

    Hari Ranjan Rao, Joint Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, will now be Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunications.

    Shyamal Misra, a 1996-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Department of Home, Ministry of Home Affairs.

    He is currently Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce.

  • CBI arrests man for posing as NHAI chairman

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The CBI has arrested an impersonator who had allegedly cheated a person to the tune of Rs 80 lakh by posing as chairman of the National Highways Authority of India, officials said on Friday.

    The accused Manoj Kumar Jha, a resident of Madhubani in Bihar, was arrested from Gurgaon, they said.

    Following the arrest, the central probe agency carried out searches at eight premises in Delhi, Kolkata, Madhubani and Bokaro Steel City, which led to recovery of various incriminating documents and around 200 SIM cards, officials said.

    “It was alleged that the impersonator called one senior officer in NHAI. It was also alleged that the complainant was advised to talk to the said chairman, as he has informed to refer two-three big reputed contractors for some urgent purpose,” CBI spokesperson RC Joshi said.

    When the complainant contacted Jha, he allegedly told the complainant that his daughter urgently needed Rs 80 lakh in Kolkata and his son-in-law would collect the amount from there.

    “The money was allegedly transferred through hawala network to Kolkata and collected by the accused himself. During investigation, the impersonator was identified as resident of Madhubani (Bihar) and was subsequently arrested from Gurgaon (Haryana),” Joshi said.

    He said the accused is presently in the CBI custody till August 9.

  • Part of half-built elevated road on Dwarka e-way collapses

    By Express News Service
    GURUGRAM: A portion of an under-construction elevated road on the Dwarka Expressway collapsed on Sunday morning injuring three workers, following which two personnel of the contractor and supervision consultant were suspended by NHAI, officials said.

    The Gurgaon Police said the incident occurred around 7.30 am and three labourers sustained injuries. They were discharged from a hospital after treatment, officials said. 

    A team of officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), including the regional officer and the project director, visited the site.

    When contacted, NHAI Member (Projects) Manoj Kumar said, “On first impression, it seems to be a case of mechanical failure. It is being investigated.”

    The NHAI said it has suspended key personnel of developer Larsen & Toubro and supervision consultant AECOM following the incident.

    The personnel were suspended pending the outcome of investigation by an expert committee being constituted to probe the incident, it said.

    “The authority has viewed the incident seriously and pending the outcome of the investigation by the committee, the key personnel of the Contractor M/s L&T and Supervision Consultant M/s AECOM have been suspended as per standard operating procedure of NHAI,” the NHAI said in a statement.

    The site is being secured with necessary precautions taken to prevent any further damage, the statement said.

    It said, “An unfortunate incident happened in Gurugram wherein under-erection span and adjoining span (between pier number 107-108 and pier number 108-109) of the under-construction flyover of package-III Dwarka Expressway collapsed during the early hours of 28.03.2021 around 7:30 am.”