Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday chaired a virtual meeting comprising 300 officials from the road ministry, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corp. Ltd (NHIDCL) to assess the impact of the outbreak of covid-19 on road projects as well as the Government’s strategy after the lockdown is lifted.
Ministry sources said that Gadkari asked officials to make the best use of the lockdown, and complete pending work such as clearing dues to contractors, granting project approvals, so that construction work can resume in full swing as soon as the lockdown is lifted.
During the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, which also resulted in the ban of construction activity, along with shortage of labourers, construction workers have moved to back to their villages.
The shortage of labour could be a challenge even after the lockdown and this could hurt construction activity for some time, even if the lockdown is lifted on April 14.
The road ministry plans to seek home ministry’s nod to resume road maintenance work in areas that are not so densely populated, and at low-risk places, where the number of covid-19 cases are not big.
“If this is allowed (If maintenance work is resumed), it will boost the confidence of the labourers, who are already stuck at various places, away from their family," a Road Ministry official said.
