Speedbreakers

The road between the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport 038; Highways and the National Highways Authority of India NHAI is certainly not paved with gold. This has been clear for some time now with the ministry repeatedly changing the head of NHAI because the two don8217;t see eye to eye. It is learnt that the relationship between Minister T R Baalu and the latest NHAI Chairman N Gokulram is also going the way of Pradeep Kumar and J S Maini, NHAI chairmen who were summarily shunted out. The relationship between Baalu and Gokulram is so strained, say insiders, that the two barely make more than necessary conversation. Gokulram may yet meet the fate of his predecessors but, as one high-ranking official brightly put it, who would then dare fill his shoes?