The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has suspended the team leader of the authority engineer and the project manager of the contractor following a viral video showing a section of the Delhi-Dehradun Expressway caving in on July 1, 2026. According to NHAI's statement, the authority has also issued show cause notices to the concerned project director, authority engineer and EPC contractor as part of its investigation into the incident. The suspension and notices were issued after taking serious cognizance of the incident. As per latest reports, a show-cause notice has been issued to the project director, fixing responsibility for the incident, while a separate notice has been served to the authority engineer for alleged negligence in services. Additionally, NHAI has issued notice to the EPC contractor, seeking an explanation on why it should not be declared a non-performer and debarred from future NHAI works.
As reported by NHAI, the road surface cave-in was the result of localized water stagnation following rainfall the previous night, coupled with constraints in commissioning the permanent cross-drainage system at the location. The authority stated that the permanent cross-drainage system at the affected location could not be commissioned due to sustained resistance from local residents, who did not permit integration of the balancing culvert and instead used the culvert opening as a vehicular crossing. NHAI regrets the inconvenience caused to commuters due to the road surface cave-in.
According to NHAI, the authority immediately undertook restoration works and has commenced construction of an interim parallel drain to ensure safe disposal of rainwater until the permanent drainage system can be commissioned. The affected location is now under continuous monitoring to ensure safe and uninterrupted traffic movement. As reported by NHAI, the section has been restored and opened for regular traffic movement following the incident.
The 213 km-long six-lane access-controlled corridor has been built at a cost of over ₹12,000 crore and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14, 2026. The corridor traverses through Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and reduces travel time between Delhi and Dehradun from over six hours to around two-and-a-half hours now. The move comes days after videos of the damaged stretch went viral, triggering criticism over the condition of the newly inaugurated expressway. The incident highlights the infrastructure challenges faced by major expressway projects despite their significant economic impact and travel time benefits.
