Ministry of Road Transport and Highways

Organisational structure

• The Ministry of Road Transport Highways is structurally divided into the following wings:

1. Road wing 2. Road Transport Wing 3. Transport Research Wing 4. Highways Wing 5. Finance Wing 6. Administration Wing 7. International Cooperation Wing 8. Toll & Coordination Wing 9. Land Acquisition Wing 10. Parliament Wing

Apart from these there is the Planning and Monitoring zone.

• The Secretary (Road Transport & Highways) is assisted by Director General (Road Development) & Special Secretary, Joint Secretary (Road Transport), Financial Advisor, Advisor (Transport Research).
• Director General (Road Development) is responsible for Development & Maintenance of National Highways.
• Joint Secretary looks after transport administration, public grievances, vigilance road safety and coordination & public relations
• Accounts Wing is headed by the Chief Controller of Accounts who is responsible for accounts budget, work and study.
• Advisor (Transport Research Wing) renders necessary data support to various wings of the Ministry for policy planning, transport coordination, economic and statistical analysis on various modes of transport with which the ministry is concerned.

Regional Offices

Following are the regional offices, each headed by a Regional Officer (RO):

The ministry has following wings functioning under it:

Roads Wing

The road wing of the MoRTH is the backbone of the country's road network development programme. It is staffed by officers of the Central Engineering Services (Roads). It is headed by Director General (Road Development) and Special Secretary to the Government of India.

The Road wing of MoRTH is further divided into five Project Zones. Each Project zone is generally vested with responsibility of four to five states for National highway development and development of road network. These five project Zones are headed by five Additional Director Generals (ADG) of Central Engineering Services (Roads) cadre who are assisted by Zonal Chief Engineer of Headquarter and Regional Officers. Regional officers are posted on ground in their respective states for development and maintenance of National Highways through State PWDs.

Main responsibilities of the roads wing are:

• Planning, development and maintenance of National Highways
• Extends technical and financial support to the state government for development of state roads and roads of inter-state connectivity and national importance.
• Setting standards for building and maintenance of roads and bridges.
• Archiving important technical knowledge generated through projects and R&D.
• Sanctioning of works related to construction, maintenance and operation of National Highways.
• Sanctioning the estimates for various centrally sponsored schemes including CRF (Central Road Fund), Roads of Interstate Connectivity.
• Dealing the matters related to road safety.
• Administration of NH act 1956, The Highway Administration Rules 2005

Transport Wing

Main responsibilities of the transport wing are:

• Motor Vehicle Legislation
• Taxation of motor vehicles
• Compulsory insurance for vehicles
• Promotion of Transport cooperatives in the field of motor transport.
• Setting National road safety standards
• Compiling data on road accidents and evolving a road safety culture among the people in the country
• Providing grants to NGOs in accordance with laid down guidelines.

Planning and Monitoring Zone

This zones are headed by two separate Chief Engineers of Central Engineering Services (Roads). Main responsibilities of this zone are:

• Preparation of budgets and scheme wise allocation of funds maintaining records of expenditure.
• Identification of stretches that may form probable network of National Highways.
• Notification and de-notification of National Highways.
• The Monitoring Zone deals with the monitoring and reviewing progress of ongoing NH works dealt by various executing Agencies of NH development.

Standards and Research (S&R) Zone

This zones is headed by a Chief Engineers of Central Engineering Services (Roads). Main responsibilities of this zone is Preparation of standards/ rules / guidelines for NH development program and related activities.

Agencies

Autonomous bodies

Following are the autonomous agencies under the MoRTH.

• National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Sector-10, Dwarka, Delhi
• Association of State Road Transport Undertakings, New Delhi

Public Sector Undertakings

• National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), New Delhi
• National Highways Logistics Management Limited, a 100% owned company of NHAI
• Indian Highways Management Company Limited

Academy

• Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), Pune
• Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE), Sector 62, Noida

Acts

Over years the ministry has passed several acts to maintain law and order in Road Transport in the country

• Road Transport Corporations Act, 1950
• National Highways Act, 1956
• Motor Vehicles Act, 1988
• National Highways Authority of India Act, 1988

Statistics

India has one of the largest road networks of over 4.885 million km consisting of :

The total road length of India had grown more than 11 times in 60 years from 1951 to 2011; also the length of the surfaced roads had increased about 16 times over the same period. The connectivity in India has tremendously improved due to formation of new surface roads.

For development of roads in the country the government has made an allocation of ₹19,423.88 crores under the Central Road Fund for 2013–2014 with the following breakup:

Government initiatives

The government has provided various incentives for private and foreign investments in the roads sector. 100% FDI is allowed in the sectors of land transport to promote building of highway bridges, toll roads, and vehicular tunnels; services incidental to transport such as cargo handling is incidental to land transport; construction and maintenance of roads, bridges; and construction and maintenance of roads and highways offered on build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, including collection of toll.

A 10-year tax exemption under Section 80 IA has been granted to the highway building projects to attract private investors. The ministry has also framed a ‘Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North Eastern Region' for improving road connectivity to remote places in this region. The estimated cost of the proposal is US$2.53 billion. The Union Budget 2012–13 proposed an increase of allocation of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways by 14% to ₹25,360 crore (US$2.6 billion).

The World Bank has approved a US$975 million loan for developing the first phase of the eastern arm of the US$17.21 billion Dedicated Freight Corridor Project in India. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. has tied up with the Japanese Bank of Industrial Cooperation for US$14.56 billion funding as loan for the first phase and it is likely to be commissioned in 2016.

The Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) is a scheme for development of rural roads in India. The Construction of Rural Roads Project (CRRP) is another initiative focused on rural development.

National Green Highways Program

Ministry of Transport and NHAI has launched the green highways programme in 2016.