Monsoon 'Dry Run': MoRTH Sets Up 24x7 Control Room to Deal with Rain-related Issues on National Highways

As the monsoon kicks in, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has established a round-the-clock control room that will monitor the situation across the national highways and receive calls from the public to ensure smooth traffic.

The control room, which was established in the ministry and can be contacted at 011-23718525, will deal with issues like the disruption of traffic, accidents due to poor visibility and potholes, water logging, road obstruction, and landslides.

In an office memorandum, dated June 27, additional secretary Amit Kumar Ghosh said that the control room is being established with immediate effect and will continue until further orders.

The officers deployed in the control room will receive calls from the public as well as government agencies and inform the concerned department to resolve the situation. They will also monitor media platforms to get inputs apart from getting in touch with local officials.

“The officers deployed in the control room will ensure that any information pertaining to blockage or damage to National Highways shall be brought to the notice of concerned ROs (Regional Officers) immediately for necessary action/redressal. Control Room shall maintain the record of calls received by them in a chronological order by entering the name, mobile number of the caller, location, issue raised in a register,” the memorandum reads.

According to the order, three people will be deployed in the office every day who will work in eight-hour shifts – midnight to 8 am, 8 am to 4 pm, and 4 pm to midnight. The officials on duty will be assistant executive engineers and assistant section officers.

During monsoon, several roads, including national highways, witness disrupted traffic due to water logging and sometimes landslides in the hilly states. On Sunday, heavy rain triggered a landslide on the Mandi-Kullu national highway that led to vehicular congestion. On Thursday, the Badrinath national highway was blocked after a landslide was reported after heavy rain near Chhinka in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district.