NHAI adopts AI and open-source software to retain knowledge lost during staff transfers

How NHAI is using AI to preserve institutional knowledge

The National Highways Authority of India is deploying artificial intelligence and open-source software to ensure critical project knowledge and administrative expertise are preserved when officers are transferred.

Through its internal AI Cell, the authority has developed an AI assistant named Marg Sarthi to help engineers and administrative staff rapidly navigate complex rules, project updates, and policy documents. Officials previously had to consult multiple sources for routine tasks, including Ministry of Road Transport and Highways circulars, standards from the Indian Roads Congress, and more than 1,800 internal NHAI policy circulars. Frequent officer rotations meant incoming personnel spent substantial time rebuilding local knowledge.

By converting administrative workflows into reusable digital processes, the system allows context gathered by experienced staff in one office to be applied seamlessly across the organisation.

What open-source tools power Marg Sarthi

Rather than relying on proprietary software, the NHAI technology team built Marg Sarthi using an open-source software stack. This approach enabled rapid prototyping, lower costs, and direct feedback from highway engineers.

The conversational interface allows officers to query project timelines, monthly progress reports, land acquisition procedures, and environmental clearances. In a demonstration at the IndiaFOSS 2026 conference, AI engineer Mayank Kumawat and IT Deputy Manager Deep Saikia showed how an officer overseeing projects in Bengaluru could summarise unresolved contractor issues across multiple sites in seconds.

The system also verifies complex contractual questions, such as evaluating whether a •50 crore additional work proposal on a •250 crore project meets regulatory thresholds, citing specific circulars so officers can audit the response.

Since its launch on April 18, 2026, Marg Sarthi has answered over 200,000 queries. It has handled more than 15,000 conversations and 50,000 specific questions from over 1,000 NHAI employees, with two-thirds of active users returning weekly. NHAI is also expanding its technological footprint with 3D sensors to detect road cracks and potholes across 23 states.

AAIB chief receives extension during key crash investigations

In a parallel move to maintain administrative continuity in national infrastructure, the government has granted a one-year extension to Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau Director-General G V G Yugandhar.

The extension, recommended by the Civil Aviation Ministry, ensures stability while the bureau completes final reports into major aviation incidents, including the Air India flight 171 crash in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025, and a severe turbulence incident on an August 4, 2026, Phuket to Delhi flight.

To strengthen independent safety overhauls, the AAIB has upgraded its central flight recorder lab to extract black box data directly in India, and plans to establish regional offices staffed independently of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation.