NHAI to get new chairman soon

The days of the present chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) RP Singh are numbered. According to well placed sources, NHAI, the premier road making agency, is all set to get a new chairman in the middle of October.

According to ministry sources,  ‘Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) chief Ajoy Mehta is expected to be at the helm of affairs of NHAI as road and transport minister Nitin Gadkari wants him to take over as chairman of the road making agency.’ Sources further informed that Mehta, an aide of slain BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, is slated to take charge as NHAI boss by mid-October. It is pertinent to mention here that Mehta was the PS of Pramod Mahajan when Mahajan was the information and technology minister in the first NDA government.

According to sources, Gadkari had initially wanted Mehta to replace member (private-public partnership) Sudhir Kumar but Mehta told him that he would join only as chairman. The present chairman RP Singh is apparently a batch junior to him. Mehta is an IAS officer of additional chief secretary rank in Maharashtra.

Sources close to Gadkari said that the minister is very impressed by Mehta’s performance in the energy sector and wants him to head the project to strengthen country’s highway network. ‘Gadkari has sent a note to the cabinet secretary Ajit Seth seeking Singh’s transfer and his replacement by Mehta,’ the source said.

Meanwhile, making a last ditch attempt to save his job, incumbent chairman RP Singh had recently blamed UPA regime for the performance of NHAI. ‘Singh wants to save his chair, which is not going to happen,’ ministry sources said. Singh had said that the infrastructure situation was dismal; the pace of investment was sub-optimal and unless we come out of the subsidy regime and inject funds substantially into capital expenditure for asset creation, the situation will not look up.