Roads to safety: NHAI to remove stray animals from highways under new MoRTH rules

The ministry of road transport and highways has laid out a coordinated mechanism to prevent stray-animal incursions and ensure their safe removal from national highways and expressways, aimed at reducing accidents and fatalities caused by animals on roads.

"The recurring presence of stray cattle and other animals on national highway (NH) carriageways poses a serious and continuing threat to road safety," it said in a notification.

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The standard operating procedures follow a 2025 Supreme Court directive to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to devise a structured mechanism for the safe removal of stray animals from national highways and expressways.

Under the notification, management of stray or abandoned animals is a state subject, while national highways are the responsibility of the central government and NHAI. "This SOP bridges that constitutional divide by delineating a clear, non-overlapping division of responsibilities between NH agencies and state or local authorities," it said.

National highway agencies will be responsible for removing stray cattle and other animals from NHs and transporting them to shelters, pounds or gaushalas designated by the state government, as applicable. State, district or local administrations will be responsible for identifying, establishing and maintaining these facilities.

National highway or central agencies will also have to identify locations on NHs and expressways where stray cattle or other animals frequent, mark these locations on the PM Gati Shakti platform and arrange for the animals to be transported to designated shelters.

State administrations will be responsible for maintaining cattle-pound records, tracing owners and initiating action to recover applicable fees, fines and penalties under relevant cattle-trespass legislation.

National highway agencies will undertake round-the-clock surveillance through route patrol vehicles on designated stretches and through the advanced traffic management system, wherever available.