Parliament Question: Expansion of Highways

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1087 ANSWERED ON 05TH FEBRUARY, 2026 EXPANSION OF HIGHWAYS 1087. SHRI ESWARASAMY K: Will the Minister of ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS सड़क परिवहन औि िाजमार् ग मंत्री be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has undertaken any new projects planned for double laning and expansion of existing highways and if so, the details thereof; (b) the details of the funds allocated, sanctioned and released for National Highway (NH) projects, year and State-wise, particularly in Tamil Nadu; (c) whether the Government has conducted road safety audits for NH stretches across the country, particularly in Tamil Nadu and if so, the findings thereof; and (d) the number of accidents and fatalities reported on NHs during 2023, 2024 and the first half of 2025, year and State-wise and the steps being taken to curb the rising number of road accidents? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI) (a) The Government in Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is primarily responsible for development and maintenance of National Highways (NHs). Development and maintenance of NHs is a continuous process. Works on NHs, including capacityaugmentation to two / four / six / eight lane standards, are accordingly taken up based on the traffic density, connectivity requirement, condition of the road and synergy with PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (NMP). At present, 1,231 NHs projects in about 27,597 km costing about ₹7.72 Lakh Crore are under construction in the country. (b) State / Union Territory (UT) - wise and year - wise details of funds allocated and expenditure incurred towards development and maintenance of NHs during the last three years and current year, including for the State of Tamil Nadu, are at Annexure-I. (c) All NHs works, including for the State of Tamil Nadu, are carried out as per standards, guidelines, manual, code of practice of Indian Roads Congress as well as specifications for Road and Bridge Works. Necessary road safety measures, including provision of crash barriers, signage boards, Foot Over Bridges, etc. are taken up during design, construction, operation and maintenance stages. Road Safety Audit (RSA) of all NHs is a continuous process and has been made mandatory at all stages i.e. design, construction, pre-opening stage of NH projects as well as during operation and maintenance stage on existing NHs for ensuring road safety. Based on findings of such audits, necessary remedial measures are taken in a time-bound manner. (d) State / UT – wise details of the number of accidents and fatalities reported on NHs during each of the last three years are at Annexure-II. Government has formulated a multi-pronged strategy to address the issue of road safety based on Education, Engineering (both of roads and vehicles), Enforcement and Emergency Care. Details of various initiatives taken to address road safety issues are at Annexure-III. In order to reduce the fatality of accident victims, Government has taken up scheme for Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims and is presently implemented on pilot basis across 6 States / UTs, namely, Chandigarh, Assam, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryanaand Puducherry for acclimatization of field officials as per the legal mandate of Section 162 of Motor Vehicles Act, 1988. Government has planned its pan India launch. The Scheme is aimed at strengthening the emergency care ecosystem to provide timely treatment to road accident victims and prevent loss of precious lives.ANNEXURE-I ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (b) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1087 ANSWERED ON 05.02.2026 ASKED BY SHRI ESWARASAMY K REGARDING EXPANSION OF HIGHWAYS State / UT - wise and year - wise details of funds allocated and expenditure incurred towards development and maintenance of NHs during the last three years and current year, including for the State of Tamil Nadu: - Amount in ₹ Crore 2025-26 (Till 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 Sr. No. State/UT 31.12.2025) Alloc. Expd. Alloc. Expd. Alloc. Expd. Alloc. Expd. 1 Andhra Pradesh 6,957 6,957 11,440 11,440 11,777 11,756 9,863 8,686 2 Arunachal Pradesh 3,140 3,140 2,649 2,649 3,972 3,599 3,115 2,168 3 Assam 4,557 4,557 9,137 9,137 7,209 7,207 3,870 3,663 4 Bihar 9,347 9,347 10,749 10,749 8,840 8,840 5,634 5,057 5 Chhattisgarh 2,468 2,468 4,255 4,255 2,392 2,280 771 414 6 Goa 673 673 620 620 851 651 722 388 7 Gujarat 9,831 9,831 10,900 10,900 8,262 8,091 6,417 5,772 8 Haryana 3,924 3,924 6,062 6,062 4,391 4,344 1,891 1,870 9 Himachal Pradesh 4,534 4,534 5,175 5,175 3,998 3,994 2,595 2,383 10 Jharkhand 3,127 3,127 4,599 4,599 5,334 5,169 3,133 2,811 11 Karnataka 6,763 6,763 12,695 12,695 11,147 10,819 8,461 7,654 12 Kerala 3,994 3,994 10,419 10,419 5,100 5,082 2,427 2,370 13 Madhya Pradesh 6,210 6,210 7,447 7,447 7,819 7,799 7,827 7,123 14 Maharashtra 18,355 18,355 19,867 19,867 18,697 18,512 15,385 13,330 15 Manipur 2,737 2,737 2,598 2,598 2,018 2,011 1,167 796 16 Meghalaya 684 684 1,803 1,803 1,835 1,697 959 745 17 Mizoram 3,218 3,218 2,189 2,189 2,114 2,091 900 886 18 Nagaland 1,666 1,666 1,414 1,414 1,681 1,600 939 774 19 Odisha 4,643 4,643 5,948 5,948 6,121 5,786 4,449 3,784 20 Punjab 10,093 10,093 12,419 12,419 8,137 7,898 5,210 5,076 21 Rajasthan 9,719 9,719 8,874 8,874 6,330 6,301 3,782 3,248 22 Sikkim 1,008 1,008 684 684 473 441 318 211 23 Tamil Nadu 8,230 8,230 9,925 9,925 9,077 9,068 6,485 5,808 24 Telangana 3,622 3,622 6,117 6,117 7,564 7,496 5,085 4,213 25 Tripura 1,156 1,156 1,546 1,546 778 767 471 466 26 Uttar Pradesh 21,453 21,453 28,114 28,114 20,682 20,665 19,676 17,514 27 Uttarakhand 3,219 3,219 4,545 4,545 3,996 3,835 2,913 2,588 28 West Bengal 3,053 3,053 3,543 3,543 2,241 2,240 3,788 3,308 29 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 143 143 96 96 204 204 113 113 30 Chandigarh 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0Amount in ₹ Crore 2025-26 (Till 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25 Sr. No. State/UT 31.12.2025) Alloc. Expd. Alloc. Expd. Alloc. Expd. Alloc. Expd. 31 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 26 26 2 2 100 46 180 54 32 Daman & Diu 33 Delhi / Headquarters 7,164 7,164 3,223 3,223 2,840 2,840 862 859 34 Jammu & Kashmir 7,370 7,370 10,528 10,528 10,331 10,204 5,749 5,441 35 Ladakh 574 574 658 658 794 768 256 225 36 Puducherry 61 61 35 35 29 23 7 0 Alloc. – Allocation; Expd. – ExpenditureANNEXURE-II ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (d) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1087 ANSWERED ON 05.02.2026 ASKED BY SHRI ESWARASAMY K REGARDING EXPANSION OF HIGHWAYS State / UT – wise details of the number of accidents and fatalities reported on NHs during each of the last three years: - State/UT - wise Details of Accidents (Nos.) & Fatalities (Nos.) on NHs S. No. State / UT 2023 2024 2025 Accidents Fatalities Accidents Fatalities Accidents Fatalities 1 Andhra Pradesh 8,276 3,806 8258 4014 8011 4105 2 Arunachal Pradesh 156 88 145 96 67 37 3 Assam 3,427 1,564 3766 1722 6306 1602 4 Bihar 4,925 4,078 4681 4012 4320 3837 5 Chhattisgarh 4,144 1,910 4156 1952 2728 1347 6 Goa 1,125 102 920 108 829 106 7 Gujarat 3,607 2,233 3519 2192 3944 2380 8 Haryana 3,642 2,033 3844 2052 4641 1885 9 Himachal Pradesh 1,074 365 1018 312 893 291 10 Jharkhand 1,994 1,672 2039 1686 2056 1783 11 Karnataka 14,270 4,383 14208 4278 13537 3993 12 Kerala 10,640 1,056 9757 940 9195 907 13 Madhya Pradesh 14,561 4,476 13937 4644 7788 2882 14 Maharashtra 10,881 5,780 11285 5812 9592 5718 15 Manipur 272 51 210 49 196 56 16 Meghalaya 114 78 135 102 108 69 17 Mizoram 57 47 69 66 42 24 18 Nagaland 201 60 86 37 53 14 19 Odisha 4,587 2,180 4555 2358 3398 1974 20 Punjab 2,388 1,895 1912 1562 1111 858 21 Rajasthan 7,179 4,172 7174 4285 6686 4255 22 Sikkim 83 24 56 24 53 21 23 Tamil Nadu 20,582 6,258 20672 6376 21122 6156 24 Telangana 8,103 3,058 8599 3066 8395 2652 25 Tripura 255 129 242 114 174 95 26 Uttarakhand 840 564 828 543 875 605 27 Uttar Pradesh 15,184 8,446 17113 9560 10842 6973 28 West Bengal 3,841 1,957 4172 2113 4027 2043 29 Andaman & Nicobar Islands 39 6 52 14 85 10 30 Chandigarh 11 4 13 3 12 6 31 Dadra & Nagar Haveli 15 3 2 2 1 8 32 Daman & Diu 733 33 Delhi 745 230 593 258 1827 260 34 Jammu & Kashmir 2,342 294 2,120 271 181 416 35 Ladakh 132 37 191 45 8011 35 36 Puducherry 497 74 631 105 465 79 Total 150,177 63,112 150,958 64,772 1,34,307 57,482 Figures for calendar year 2024 onwards based on latest eDAR (Electronic Detailed Accident Report) data.ANNEXURE-III ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (d) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1087 ANSWERED ON 05.02.2026 ASKED BY SHRI ESWARASAMY K REGARDING EXPANSION OF HIGHWAYS Details of various initiatives taken to address road safety issues: - (1) Education: i. Administers a scheme for setting up of Institutes of Driving Training & Research (IDTRs), Regional Driving Training Centres (RDTCs) and Driving Training Centres (DTCs) at state/district level across the Country. Recently revised scheme guidelines have been issued, incorporating enhanced financial assistance and streamlined eligibility criteria for establishing Driving Training Institutes. Additionally, incentives have been introduced for setting up Automated Testing Stations (ATS) in conjunction with Driving Training Institutes (DTIs) under the Training-Testing Cluster approach. ii. Administers Road Safety Advocacy Scheme for raising awareness about road safety and for administering road safety programs. iii. Observance of National Road Safety Month every year for spreading awareness and strengthening road safety. (2) Engineering: 2.1. Road engineering: i. Road Safety Audit (RSA) of all National Highways (NHs) has been made mandatory through third party auditors/ experts at all stages i.e. design, construction, operation and maintenance etc. ii. High priority is accorded to identification and rectification of black spots /accident spots on NHs. iii. Road Safety Officer (RSO) has been designated at each Regional Office of road owning agencies to look after RSA and other road safety related works. iv. Administers the electronic Detailed Accident Report (e-DAR)Project to establish a central repository for reporting, management and analysis of road accidents data across the country. v. Issued guidelines for the provision of signages on Expressways and National Highways to offer improved visibility and intuitive guidance to the driver. vi. Provisions have been made in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 for failure to comply with standards for the road design, construction and maintenance, as prescribed by the Central Government from time to time. 2.2 Vehicle Engineering: Various initiatives were undertaken to make vehicles safer, including the following:- i. Mandatory provision of an airbag for the passenger seated on the front seat of a vehicle, next to the driver. ii. Prescribed norms related to safety measures for children below four years of age, riding or being carried on a motor cycle. It also specifies use of a safety harness, crash helmet and restricts speed to 40 kmph. iii. Mandatory provisions for fitment of following listed safety technologies: - For M1 category vehicles: a. Seat Belt Reminder (SBR) for driver and co-driver. b. Manual Override for central locking system c. Over speed warning system. For all M and N category vehicles: a. Reverse Parking Alert System iv. Mandated Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) for certain classes of L [Motor vehicle with less than four wheels and includes a Quadricycle], M [Motor vehicles with at least four wheels used for carrying passengers] and N [Motor vehicles with at least four wheels used for carrying goods which may also carry persons in addition to goods, subject to conditions stipulatedin BIS standards] categories. v. Mandated speed limiting function/speed limiting device in all transport vehicles, except for two wheelers, three wheelers, quadricycles, fire tenders, ambulances and police vehicles. vi. Published the rules for recognition, regulation and control of Automated Testing Stations, which define the procedure for fitness testing of vehicles through automated equipment and the procedure for grant of fitness certificate by ATSs. The rules have been further amended on 31.10.2022 and 14.03.2024. vii. Formulated the Vehicle Scrapping Policy based on incentives/dis-incentives and for creating an ecosystem to phase out old, unfit and polluting vehicles. viii. Formulated a Scheme to set up one model Inspection & Certification Centre in each State/UT with Central assistance for testing the fitness of vehicles through an automated system. ix. Published rules regarding the Bharat New Car Assessment Program (BNCAP) to introduce the concept of safety rating of passenger cars and empower consumers to take informed decisions. x. Published rules regarding prescribed level playing field in the area of manufacturing of buses by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Bus Body Builder xi. Mandated vehicles, manufactured on or after 1st October, 2025, shall be fitted with an air-conditioning system for the cabin of vehicles of N2 (goods vehicle with gross vehicle weight exceeding 3.5 tonnes but not exceeding 12.0 tonnes) and N3 (goods vehicle with gross vehicle weight exceeding 12.0 tonnes) category. xii. Published rules for revision of standards for Safety Belt, Restraint Systems and Safety Belt Reminder to provide provisions for applicability of revised standards for safety belt assemblies, safety belt anchorages and the installation of Safety Belts and Restraint Systems, in Motor vehicles of category M, N and L7 w.e.f. 01st April, 2025. Further, thevehicles of category M1, manufactured on and after the 1st April 2025, shall meet the requirement of safety belt reminder for all front facing rear seats as per AIS-145-2018. xiii. Published rules for Active safety features in Medium and Heavy Duty vehicles, which provide for Braking System including Anti-lock Braking, Endurance Braking System Test for M2, M3, N1, N2, N3 and Quadricycle (effective for new models from 1st January, 2027 and for existing models from 1st October, 2027), and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) including Vehicle Stability Function (VSF), Lane Departure Warning System (LDWS), Driver Drowsiness and Attention Warning Systems, Blind Spot Information Systems and Moving off Information Systems for M2, M3, N2 and N3 categories of vehicles (effective for new models from 1st October, 2027 and for existing models from 1st January, 2028). (3) Enforcement: i. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act, 2019 as stands implemented provides for strict penalties for ensuring compliance and enhancing deterrence for violation of traffic rules and strict enforcement through use of technology. Traffic management and enforcement is essentially in the domain of State Governments/UT Administrations. While Central Government formulates rules under the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, the enforcement of these rules comes under the purview of State Governments/UT Administrations. ii. Issued rules for Electronic Monitoring and Enforcement of Road Safety. The rules specify the detailed provisions for placement of electronic enforcement devices on high risk & high density corridors on National Highways, State Highways and critical junctions cities having a population of more than one million in the country and cities under National Clean Air Programme (NCAP). iii. Government has issued guidelines for incentive to States for Implementation of Electronic Enforcement of Road Safety under the Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2025-26 (SASCI 2025-26) with allocation of ₹ 3,000Crore (on first come first serve basis). iv. On 10th June, 2024, the Government has issued an advisory to all the States and Union territories on technological interventions for ensuring compliance with Motor Vehicle Act, 1988. (4) Emergency Care: i. Revised the scheme guidelines (named as Rah-Veer) for the protection of Good Samaritan, who in good faith, voluntarily and without expectation of any reward or compensation renders emergency medical or non-medical care or assistance at the scene of an accident to the victim or transports such victim to the hospital. As per the scheme, the reward for Rah- Veer has been increased to ₹ 25,000/- from ₹ 5,000/-. ii. Enhanced compensation of victims of Hit and Run motor accidents (from ₹ 12,500 to ₹ 50,000 for grievous hurt and from ₹ 25,000 to ₹2,00,000 for death). iii. The National Highways Authority of India has made provisions for ambulances with paramedical staff/Emergency Medical Technician/Nurse at toll plazas on the completed corridors of National Highways. iv. Government has notified the Cashless Treatment of Road Accident Victims Scheme, 2025 on 5th May, 2025. The detailed guidelines including process flow, stakeholder wise standard operating procedures and clearly delineated roles and responsibilities have also been notified on 4th June, 2025. *****