India’s Collapsing Roads and Highways Dent Modi Government’s Image
It has built dozens of expressways and highways at enormous cost. But these have not survived the stress test of even the season's first rains.
A video of India's Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has been circulating online, in which the minister claims that a Dubai prince once requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to send him to Dubai for six months. The prince reportedly praised India's rapidly expanding road infrastructure and requested Gadkari to replicate it in Dubai.
Both Modi and Gadkari have highlighted the success stories of India's highway construction, asserting that the country is now utilizing space technology in road construction and that by 2024, India's roads could match those in the United States. However, the much-publicized expressways have proven to be vulnerable despite the government's claims.
Recent monsoon rains have revealed the inadequacy of these expressways, with video footage circulating on social media displaying potholes and cracks appearing within just three months of their inauguration. The Delhi-Dehradun Expressway, inaugurated by Modi on April 14 at a cost of approximately $1.258 billion, is the most prominent example, with large potholes and cracks developing shortly after opening. The Kanpur-Lucknow Expressway, inaugurated just weeks ago, collapsed under the weight of heavy rains.
The Pune-Mumbai Expressway, Missing Link, costing around $701.93 million, also suffered from pothole-like patches after the first waves of monsoon rain. The Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, too, faced scrutiny after a contractor was fired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) due to repeated failures in meeting contractual requirements.
Potholes and structural failures on these newly built expressways and national highways have raised serious questions about construction quality, supervision, and accountability. Gadkari, who has been facing public outrage over the addition of ethanol to petrol, has become less visible in public life. It is uncertain whether he attended the recent monsoon session of Parliament.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is now investigating the developer of the Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway, PNC Infratech, for gross malpractice in construction quality. The Times of India, in an editorial titled "Pothole Nation," described the recurring highway craters as systemic failures resulting from corruption and inadequate construction oversight.
The London Times highlighted that while Modi's infrastructure expansion is impressive in scale, it is increasingly marred by substandard construction and failures. Numerous reports indicate that around 170 bridges have collapsed between 2021 and 2025, causing approximately 200 deaths, alongside various airport and road failures.
The government's efforts to repair the potholes and cracks are inevitable, but they cannot mend the damage to the Modi government's image as a champion of corruption-free India.
Written by urgent.news from The Diplomat's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
