NHAI appoints Santosh Yadav as chief, Subhasish Panda to be DDA’s Vice Chairman

Santosh Kumar Yadav, a 1995-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, is currently additional secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education.

He has been appointed as NHAI chairman, the order said.

NHAI faces the uphill task of building over 50 km of highways per day in five months to complete a targeted 12,000 km in FY23 after the pace of construction slackened in the first seven months to reach just a third of the goal.

Between April and October, NHAI could manage just 4,060 km of national highways as against 4,450 km built in the same period of pandemic-hit FY22, a drop of around 8.8%.

As per the latest data from the ministry of road transport and highways, though construction has faltered this year, award of projects has picked up pace. However, numbers have remained flat at 5,007 km.

In April-October of FY22, NHAI could award just about 4,913 km of highways.

Subhasish Panda, a 1997-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, has been appointed as Delhi Development Authority (DDA) vice chairman.

Ganji Kamala V Rao has been named Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Rao, a 1990-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre, is currenty the managing director of the India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd.

Hitesh Kumar S Makwana has been named as Additional Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs.

Rajneesh, a 1997-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, will be additional secretary and development commissioner of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, the order said.