NHAI faces court scrutiny after 3 deaths in 40-hour Indore bypass jam

Business Standard

01-07-2025

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday made a surprising remark in the Madhya Pradesh High Court that has sparked outrage and criticism for the authority that is responsible for maintaining national routes in India.
According to a report by NDTV, during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), NHAI's legal counsel reportedly said: "Why do people even leave home so early without any work?"
The case relates to a 40-hour traffic jam on the Indore–Dewas section of the Agra–Mumbai National Highway, in which three people died last week.
The counsel made this remark in relation to the massive traffic jam on Friday. The jam left Kamal Panchal (62) from Indore, Balram Patel (55) from Shujalpur, and Sandeep Patel (32) from Gari Pipalya village dead, the report added.
Court issues notice
In relation to the plea, the bench of Justices Vivek Rusia and Binod Kumar Dwivedi issued notice to the Centre and NHAI as well as the administration and police of Indore, seeking reply within a week. The court also directed that a private company constructing a road between Indore and Dewas on the National Highway be included in the list of respondents, reported PTI.
The court also noted that it ordered the completion of the road within four weeks in September last year, but it still remains unfinished, reported NDTV. On being asked about the same, the NHAI said that the delay was caused by the crusher units' strike.
On NHAI's counsel's remark, Girish Patwardhan, appearing for the petitioner, said that such reasoning is "unacceptable". "It would mean that ordinary citizens could no longer safely step out of their homes. The court did not take this argument seriously," he said, as quoted by NDTV.
Indore Collector Asheesh Singh visited the site on Saturday and blamed the traffic crisis on substandard construction work by the NHAI. He noted that the poorly built service road had developed potholes under the strain of heavy vehicular movement. The situation was further worsened by ongoing construction, which led to additional diversion-related pressure on the bypass, reported Dainik Bhaskar.
The court has set July 7 as the next date of hearing.