National Highway Asses of India
I have been travelling by road on the National Highway from Mumbai to Navsari regularly for the last two years. It was always a pleasure to drive in Gujarat as the qualitative difference in the highway tarmac once you passed from Maharashtra into Gujarat was telling. Maharashtra has always collected toll as a matter of right to make money and not for maintenance of roads which is the purpose for which tolls are collected. The Mumbai High Court has also passed strictures on the state government for collecting tolls without maintaining the roads. Gujarat used to be different – the roads were a carpet and the drive a pleasure – the drive to Navsari used to take about four hours as opposed to the bumps in Maharashtra. This was till about eight months ago, when the NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) in all its wisdom decided to start construction of the Mumbai-Delhi Industrial Corridor with the plan to construct bridges to enable flow of fast traffic. In principal, the idea is brill...