The National Highway Authority (NHA) came under fire on Wednesday when Communications Minister Shamim Siddiqui took strong exception to the poor performance of weigh stations and substandard construction of some parts of Grand Trunk (G.T) road from Rawalpindi to Peshawar.
Siddiqui during a surprise visit of G.T road between Rawalpindi and Peshawar along with Secretary Communications, Tariq Mehmood and other senior officials of the ministry pointed out these shortcomings.
The minister inspected different places and observed that out of 20 workers at Sangjani weigh station, 16 were absent. NHA Chairman, Major General Farrukh Javed was called immediately on the site.
It was decided that workers at weigh stations would work under the Motorway Police in future. It is pertinent to mention here that the communication minister has time and again expressed dissatisfaction over the performance of weigh stations and had announced to hand over all weigh stations to motorway police.
Shamim Siddiqui also visited G.T road from Nowshera to Peshawar and inspected the on-going construction work. People at Pabbi informed the minister about the substandard construction.
Siddiqui inspected the deficiencies in the construction of road and immediately ordered for the suspension of project director, site engineer and material engineer, while the contractor and consultant have been black listed.
Talking to newsmen, he said they were receiving plethora of complaints about the on-going projects and he has decided to visit all sites to personally monitor the performance of parties carrying out on-going projects.
He informed the newsmen that the inquiry report would be sent to the President and Prime Minister for appropriate action.