National Highways Excellence Awards 2021 presented by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla
Lok Sabha
Speaker Om Birla appreciated the achievements made in the highways
infrastructure sector in the last few years and expressed the hope that India
will achieve new heights in the future.
He was speaking at the “National Highways Excellence
Awards (NHEA) 2021” ceremony, organized by the Ministry of Road Transport and
Highways (MoRTH) at Vigyan Bhavan in the national capital this evening. The
event was being organized under the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’. This year, the
theme of the awards was “Innovation and Excellence in Road Construction”.
The Lok Sabha
Speaker said the awards will inspire and infuse energy into the engineers and
workers involved in the highway construction. He talked about the steps taken
by the Ministry in introducing new technologies and resolving stuck projects.
“The Ministry has done a lot of good work in toll
management, highway and tunnel construction and infrastructure with green
highways. Nitin Gadkari has restored many stalled projects. The ministry has
worked with a vision. We will achieve even more new records in road
connectivity in the days to come,” he said.
Highlighting the achievements of the Ministry in
developing the highway infrastructure in the country, Union RT&H Minister Nitin
Gadkari said his Ministry is committed to ensure good quality highways for the
people. “I am confident that by 2024, the standard of the National Highways in
India will that be of the US,” he said.
“We are improving road quality and also promoting new
talent. But we should also think about water conservation,” Gadkari said.
Addressing the gathering, Minister of State (RT&H)
and Civil Aviation General (Dr) VK Singh said: “The objective of giving awards
is to appreciate and reward those who have done well in terms of constructing
good highways. This will motive those who may not have got the award but they
will definitely get motivation to do better.” He said the speed with which the
road sector has gained momentum in the last few years is an example of anything
can be achieved with hard work and innovation.
Secretary
RT&H GiridharAramane explained the measures taken by the Ministry for
adoption of new technologies in order to ensure improvement in the quality of
highways. Developers are being encouraged to use new innovative technologies
and designs, he added.
Earlier in the morning, Shri Aramane inaugurated the
awards ceremony. Setting the tone for the event, he called upon the engineers
to use innovative practices in order to ensure excellence in highway
construction.
There were panel discussions, chaired by senior officials
and sector experts. There was a panel discussion on “Frontiers in road safety”,
which was attended by NHAI Chairperson Alka Upadhyaya, former Director
CSIR-CRRI Dr Subhamay Gangopadhyay and others. ADG (Nodal) MORTH SK Nirmal
chaired a panel discussion on “Innovative Technology and Practices, which was
moderated by Director New Technology for Highway Development Bidur Kant Jha.
There were also panel discussions on “Innovative
Technologies for Slope Stabilization in Hill Roads”, “Design of Special
Structures”, “Innovative Pavement Materials”, “Design of Road and Geotechnical
Engineering – The International Perspective” and “Innovations in Geospatial
Technology”.
During the ceremony, awards were presented to the
concessionaire/contractors working exceptionally well in the construction,
operations & maintenance, innovation, greenery, tolling stages of highway
development as well as in the arena of road safety for the 2021 award cycle.
As many as 122 nominations were received, out of which 89
were found to be valid. Out of this, 58 nominations were shortlisted. A total
of 37 nominations were selected for Field Assessment. Finally, a Jury headed by
CEO Niti Aayog Amitabh Kant and consisting of former Environment Secretary Govt
of India CK Mishra, former DG Roads & Special Secretary AV Sinha and Vice
President Corporate Affairs, Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd BC Datta selected 13
nominations for the awards (Full list of winners in different categories given
below).
Top officials of MORTH, National Highways Authority of
India (NHAI), National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited
(NHIDCL) and automobile companies and other stakeholders were present on the
occasion. Some of the dignitaries who attended the function include Leena
Nandan, Secretary Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Additional
Secretary & Financial Advisor MORTH Sanjay Kumar, Additional Secretary
MORTH Amit Kumar Ghosh, NHAI Chairperson Alka Upadhyay. Member NHAI (Projects) RK
Pande, Member NHAI (Projects) Manoj Kumar, Member NHAI (Technical) Mahavir
Singh, Joint Secretaries (MORTH) Amit Varadan, Kamlesh Chaturvedi, SP Singh, Mahmood
Ahmed, besides more than 400 officials from MORTH, NHAI, NHIDCL. A large number
of participants including concessionaires, developers, contractors,
academicians and representatives of NGOs were present.
MoRTH instituted NHEA in 2018 with an aim to incentivize
the key stakeholders and to create a spirit of healthy competition amongst all
the stakeholders involved in the development of highway infrastructure in the
country. This is part of the larger objective of strengthening the road
infrastructure in the country, which is a top priority of the Government of
India.