Review of the work being done by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in view of the Maha Kumbh.

Independent morning.

Bureau Prayagraj.

In view of Mahakumbh 2025, a review meeting of various projects being implemented by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) was held today under the chairmanship of NHAI Chairman Santosh Yadav and Principal Secretary, Urban Development, Amrit Abhijat, Principal Secretary, Public Works Department, Ajay Chauhan, Additional It was held in the ICCC Auditorium located at the Fair Authority office in the presence of Director General of Police, Bhanu Bhaskar, Divisional Commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant, Fair Officer Vijay Kiran Anand, MD, Jal Nigam Amit Kumar Singh, District Magistrate, Ravindra Kumar Mandad and all other concerned officials.

In the meeting, all the works related to ring road, widening of Prayagraj-Raebareli road and six lane bridge were reviewed point wise, under which the Chairman asked the project directors related to all three works to understand the target of their weekly micro plan and the material coming in the works. Discussed in detail the problems related to manpower and funds.

Wherever he was made aware of problems related to material or manpower in all the three projects, he gave instructions to bring expected progress in the works by shifting resources and manpower from other cities of NHAI. Apart from this, while instructing all the project directors to review and report the daily progress of the works, it was also made clear that he himself will review the progress of all the works every 15 days through VC.

Instructions have also been given to make special arrangements for operation and maintenance on all the roads of NHAI related to Maha Kumbh so that if necessary, minor repair work can be done immediately. In view of this work, he has also instructed every operation and maintenance agency to appoint a special team leader.

Instructions have also been given to get live monitoring of tolls on all these roads, to make proper arrangements for cleanliness in the toilets and premises there and to ensure appointment of staff there in three shifts. He clearly directed all the ROs and Project Directors that the contractors often work on tolls in 12-hour shifts instead of 8 hours due to which the workers working on tolls get very tired, hence for the next three months it should be ensured that The staff appointed at all these tolls should work only in three shifts of 8 hours each and not in 12-hour shifts. Besides, instructions have also been given to conduct behavioral training of all the appointed staff between November 15 and November 30 so that the visiting devotees can be treated better.

In order to make the experience of the devotees more comfortable, NHAI has made arrangements for BLS and ALS ambulances during Mahakumbh on all the roads related to Mahakumbh and mapping of all the hospitals located around those roads to be the nearest in case of emergency. Instructions have also been given to make arrangements to reach the hospital. Instructions have also been given to deploy incident vehicles on all roads so that in case of any incident, the rescue team can reach there in the minimum time.

Instructions have also been given to make advance traffic management system, painting on dividers, fog reflectors and adequate lighting on all roads. In view of this, instructions have also been given to all the incident vehicles to inform the concerned by clicking photographs of any shortcomings in the arrangements while patrolling during day and night. All ROs/Project Directors will also prepare and present road wise safety plans after talking to their respective safety consultants.

Principal Secretary, Urban Development also directed to install multi-lingual sign boards in the required format on all NHAI roads in compliance with the IRC guidelines so that it becomes easier for all the visiting devotees to understand the route. Principal Secretary PWD asked to hold regular review meetings for continuous monitoring of all the works and Divisional Commissioner asked the NHAI officials to execute the works by making better coordination with the concerned officers of all the concerned districts. While presenting the works being done in and around the fair area, the fair officer informed about the expected works from the point of view of the fair.