The Indian government has dismissed 11 road ministry officials following structural failures across 19 National Highway projects over the past two years, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari informed Rajya Sabha.
The collapses, cave-ins and structural failures of newly constructed bridges and flyovers occurred across multiple states between 2025 and 2026, including incidents on the high-profile Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.
Gadkari confirmed that disciplinary action has been taken against 11 additional officers for various reasons, including negligence and dereliction of duties.
Seven of the 19 affected projects are located in Kerala, whilst other failures occurred across Gujarat, Rajasthan and several additional states.
The government has taken action against defaulting agencies through contract terminations, penalties, liquidated damages, debarment and blacklisting of non-performing contractors.
A penalty of Rs 2.8 crore was imposed on contractors responsible for ruts, cracks and surface deformation along the Sanchore-Santalpur highway in Gujarat, with recommendations for debarment up to one year or until successful rectification.
Among the most notable incidents was a bridge section collapse on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway near Ankleshwar in Gujarat on 2nd July, which created a seven to eight-foot gap in the bridge deck.
In May 2025, a section of the under-construction NH-66 in Kooriyad, Malappuram, experienced a significant collapse, prompting the National Highways Authority of India to dismiss a site engineer and suspend the project director.
The contractor, KNR Constructions, was ordered to demolish and rebuild the damaged stretch at a cost of Rs 80 crore.
The series of failures has raised questions about construction quality and oversight as India races to expand its National Highway network, which has grown from 91,287 km in 2014 to 1.46 lakh km in 2025.
Similar problems emerged on the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, where large potholes appeared near Shamli less than three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the route, prompting the NHAI to suspend key officials.