Question

The major highway projects in India are implemented by which of the following?
a)CPWD
b)PWD
c)NHAI
d)NCR

Answer 1

Hint: According to capacity, roads in India are classified into-Super highways, National Highways, State roads, district roads and other roads. Different agencies are responsible for making and managing these different categories of roads.

Complete answer: Constituting about 2.7% of India’s road network, national and superhighways connect major cities and distant locations. Let us look at the options given to us to understand who is bestowed with the responsibility of constructing and maintaining these.

Option A-CPWD or Central Public Works Department is the central government ‘s arm in charge of public sector works. It works under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It deals with buildings, bridges, flyovers, complicated structures like stadiums, auditoriums, laboratories, bunkers, border fencing, border roads (hill roads) etc.
Option B- PWD or Public Works Department is concerned with building and maintaining state highways. These are roads that link the state capital with district headquarters.
Option C- NHAI or National Highways Authority of India is an autonomous agency responsible for building and maintaining the network of major highways in the country. Set up in 1988, it works under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and builds roads that help to reduce time and distance between mega cities of India. NHAI is the agency responsible for the Golden Quadrilateral project.
Option D- NCR is the abbreviation used for the National Capital region and covers districts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Therefore the correct answer is option (C ).

Note: National Highway no. 1 runs between Amritsar and Delhi. National Highway no. 44 is the longest in the country and joins Srinagar and Kanyakumari. Leh-Manali highway is the second highest motorable road in the world.