Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday asked officials and developers to strictly adhere to project schedules. "Delays in projects are unacceptable. Adhere strictly to project schedules," Gadkari told officials and developers on the first day of two days review meeting of projects worth Rs 3-lakh crore.

Gadkari told that  any inter-Ministerial issue holding up a project may be brought to the notice of the Ministry for intervention to expedite resolution.  Projects from southern and central zones, including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Telangana, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, were on review on Thursday.

A total of 500 highway projects worth Rs 3 lakh crore are being taken up for review on Thursday and Fri with a view to fast-track them.  All developers, contractors and officers of NHAI are linked to portal and it will help sharing of all project-related information for speedy implementation.

The projects from northeastern States, Maha, Uttarakhand, Punjab, J&K, Ladakh, Haryana, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and UP will be reviewed Friday. Issues related to projects in northeastern States and under National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd have already been reviewed in a separate meeting held on Jan 7.

Gadkari, along with Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways VK Singh, launched online web portal 'GATI', which has been created by the National Highways Authority of India  on the lines of PRAGATI.

An official said "Gadkari will also personally monitor the projects". The portal 'GATI' can be accessed from NHAI's website, and contractors and concessionaires can raise any project-related issues on the platform, according to a statement by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

"The issue will immediately come to the notice of everyone...HQ NHAI including top management, and immediate action will be taken by the concerned officer duly updating on the portal," it said.

The issues raised on 'GATI' will be daily monitored by a team of NHAI officers and will be constantly reviewed by the senior officers of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the statement said. This will bring transparency and speed up the decision making in highway construction, it added.

During the meeting the new union territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu has been assigned new vehicle registration mark 'DD' after the headquarters of the merged union territories of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

"The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has assigned a new motor vehicle Registration Mark 'DD' to 'Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu' for registration of vehicles," MoRTH said in a statement. The ministry has issued a notification to this effect, under the Motor Vehicles Act 1988. It will be implemented from January 26, 2020.