The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has intensified its anti-encroachment drive across the country to improve road safety and restore the Right of Way (RoW) on national highways, with a major operation underway in Gujarat’s Rajkot in compliance with Supreme Court directions.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), unauthorised structures, commercial establishments, temporary sheds, illegal access points and unapproved median cuts along highways pose serious safety risks by obstructing visibility, narrowing carriageways and disrupting traffic flow.

The ministry said such encroachments increase the likelihood of road accidents by forcing sudden lane changes, reducing drivers’ reaction time and creating unsafe entry and exit points. They also hinder highway maintenance, emergency response and future infrastructure expansion.

Citing the Supreme Court’s directions to remove unauthorised encroachments from public roads and highways, the ministry said MoRTH and NHAI have been carrying out sustained enforcement drives across the country to restore highway land and improve traffic movement.

As part of the exercise, NHAI’s Project Implementation Unit (PIU) in Rajkot has surveyed nearly 693 km of national highways under its jurisdiction and issued 1,403 notices against illegal structures, unauthorised commercial accesses and unapproved median openings.

The authority has so far removed more than 361 illegal access points and encroachments and permanently closed 150 unauthorised median gaps, the ministry said.