Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari disclosed the action in a reply to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament, on July 29.
The failures struck newly built bridges, flyovers and road surfaces during 2025 and 2026, The Tribune reported. They included damage on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, the roughly 1,400-km corridor Gadkari has championed as a transformative infrastructure project.
Seven of the 19 affected projects are in Kerala.
On the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, two large potholes opened near Shamli in Uttar Pradesh on July 1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the INR120 billion (US$1.26 billion) route less than three months earlier, on April 14, The Federal reported.
Motorists filmed the damaged stretch and posted the footage online. Several vehicles were reported to have suffered bent alloy wheels.
The National Highways Authority of India blamed water pooling after the season’s first monsoon rain, in a statement quoted by ThePrint. Delays in commissioning a permanent cross-drainage system compounded the problem, the authority said.
A balancing culvert designed to carry rainwater across the carriageway could not be brought into service because local residents objected, having used the culvert opening as a vehicle crossing. Slope protection and chute drain work remained unfinished because of a land dispute.
The opposition Congress party alleged misappropriation of funds.
NHAI issued show-cause notices to the project director, the authority engineer and the construction contractor, and suspended several senior officials on the project, Garhwal Post reported.
The damaged section was repaired and reopened within days. A temporary drain was built while permanent drainage work continues.
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Heavy traffic in Bangalore, India. Illustration photo by Unsplash |
In Kerala, a 250-meter section of elevated corridor on National Highway 66 collapsed at Kooriyad in Malappuram on May 19, 2025. Foundation soil proved unable to carry the load of the embankment above it.
NHAI terminated its site engineer and suspended the project director, Onmanorama reported. The authority ordered concessionaire KNR Constructions to clear the debris and rebuild the structure as a viaduct at its own expense, estimated at INR800 million ($8.4 million).
The company was barred from bidding for up to a year and faced a proposed penalty of INR118 million ($1.24 million). Kerala Kaumudi reported that show-cause notices also went to design consultants Strata Geosystem and HBS Infra Engineers and to safety consultant Sri Infotech.
The rebuilt stretch was finished and set to reopen in May 2026.
On the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, an 8-foot-wide hole opened in a bridge deck near Ankleshwar in Gujarat, according to The Tribune. Surface collapses had been reported earlier at Dausa and Sawai Madhopur in Rajasthan.
Rain exposed ruts, cracks and surface deformation on the Sanchore-Santalpur highway in Gujarat. The contractor drew a INR28 million ($294,000) penalty and a recommendation that it be barred from bidding for a year or until the defects are rectified, whichever comes later.
Gadkari said contractors and concessionaires faced the measures set out in their contract and concession agreements, including termination, penalties, liquidated damages, debarment, blacklisting and formal designation as non-performers.
The 11 dismissed officials were removed on the basis of performance assessment. The others faced action for negligence and dereliction of duty.